The Project Gutenberg eBook of Fanciful tales, by Frank R. Stockton
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Title: Fanciful tales
Author: Frank R. Stockton
Editor: Julia Elizabeth Langworthy
Contributor: Mary E. Burt
Release Date: June 24, 2023 [eBook #71032]
Language: English
Credits: Tim Lindell and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at
https://www.pgdp.net (This file was produced from images
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*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK FANCIFUL TALES ***
FANCIFUL TALES
[Illustration: SO MANY THINGS STOP AT NIGHT--SUCH AS THE DAY
ITSELF--THAT I THINK YOU OUGHT TO PARDON MY POOR CLOCK.]
FANCIFUL TALES
BY
FRANK R. STOCKTON
EDITED WITH NOTES BY
JULIA ELIZABETH LANGWORTHY
TEACHER IN THE CHICAGO PUBLIC SCHOOLS
WITH AN INTRODUCTION BY
MARY E. BURT
CHARLES SCRIBNER’S SONS
NEW YORK CHICAGO BOSTON
COPYRIGHT, 1894, BY
CHARLES SCRIBNER’S SONS
COPYRIGHT, 1922, BY
N. S. STOCKTON AND F. A. STOCKTON
Printed in the United States of America
[Illustration]
PREFACE
It is because I have found that children love Stockton’s stories, that
they appreciate the delicate bits of humor found in them, and enjoy
discussing the ethical questions suggested, that I have arranged in
this book a few of the favorites, easily read by children from eight to
ten years of age.
I believe, also, that children can best learn to read by reading what
is best in literature.
This little volume, then, is the result of repeated tests with children
of various ability in the reading of Stockton’s stories. The results
proved that the language is simple and childlike, the thought natural,
and the story itself intensely interesting.
Notes and suggestive questions for each story, except “The Christmas
Truants,” which is so simple that it does not seem to need them, are
given at the end of the book. These, it is believed, will be found
helpful to the teacher and pupil and aid in securing the best results.
JULIA ELIZABETH LANGWORTHY.
CONTENTS
PAGE
OLD PIPES AND THE DRYAD, 1
THE BEE-MAN OF ORN, 32
THE CLOCKS OF RONDAINE, 52
THE GRIFFIN AND THE MINOR CANON, 81
THE CHRISTMAS TRUANTS, 108
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS
FACING
PAGE
“SO MANY THINGS STOP AT NIGHT--SUCH AS THE DAY
ITSELF--THAT I THINK YOU OUGHT TO PARDON MY
POOR CLOCK,” _Frontispiece_.
A BEAUTIFUL DRYAD STEPPED QUICKLY OUT, 1
ARLA AND THE SACRISTAN, 52
THEY WERE MARCHED AWAY TO THE ROBBER’S CASTLE, 108
INTRODUCTION
Joy as a factor in education is too apt to be ignored. Feeling and
pleasure are too often counted out as not being related to the needs of
the child. Good-natured merriment is hushed. School is invested with
a school-consciousness, an insupportable dryness and solemnity which
precludes the spontaneous laughter of a normal growth. Discipline is
enforced by direct didactic teaching or through sarcasm rather than
encouraged by the fun which has no sting in it.
There is no writer before the public who has added more to the
wholesome humor of the age than Mr. Stockton--no writer whose stories
are so full of pure wit, entirely free from poison, and pointing to
healthy, happy action, while probing false sentiment. What child could
fail to raise his own standard and guard himself against egotism after
following Arla through her trials in attempting to regulate the Clocks
of Rondaine? What boy could fail to appreciate the sweetness and quiet
in the character of the Minor Canon?
Every school would be the better for such reading. The notes from the
pipes of “Old Pipes” come floating down to me from the happy reading
lessons of years ago, when my own pupils loved to read the story. What
a happy mood it threw over the school-room! It is the realization of
a long hope that one of my pupils has selected this story as one that
ought to come into an inexpensive school-book where children in general
may enjoy it. And why should not children have such reading, and have
it related to school work? Why should the librarian at the public
library be the real teacher of reading, the one to whom children go to
get what they like and want? Why should the public library instead of
the school-room be the literary resort for children? Why should not
the children, who form the best part of the “reading public,” be in
intimate relation to the literary life of their land? Why should they
not get at the man who sings out of his heart because he has something
to sing? What would it mean to the children of the United States if
all the reading-books gotten up for commercial purposes were swept out
of existence and the works of good writers substituted? What would
it mean to the public? What, to teachers, authors, publishers? To the
child it would mean stores and stores of knowledge, contact with the
best life agoing, the conservation of his youth, economy of his time.
To the public it would mean a more intelligent citizenship, a happier
people, the raising of the general taste. To the teacher it would mean
relief from the drudgery of trying to make something seem good and
interesting that is often poor and inane. To the author it would mean
an audience of thousands where he is now heard by one. To the publisher
it would mean the delight of knowing himself to be patriotically
related to the public.
Success to the little book, “Fanciful Tales”! May it be followed by
companions from the best authors of the country, until there is a
complete set of “reading-books,” and the literary life of the land is
the common condition of people, and our best writers are as well known
to the millions as they are now to the few thousands who form the
reading public.
MARY E. BURT.
THE VINES, HOLBROOK, L. I.,
July 5, 1894.
[Illustration: A BEAUTIFUL DRYAD STEPPED QUICKLY OUT.]
FANCIFUL TALES
OLD PIPES AND THE DRYAD
A mountain brook ran through a little village. Over the brook there
was a narrow bridge, and from the bridge a foot-path led out from the
village and up the hill-side, to the cottage of Old Pipes and his
mother.
For many, many years Old Pipes had been employed by the villagers to
pipe the cattle down from the hills. Every afternoon, an hour before
sunset, he would sit on a rock in front of his cottage and play on his
pipes. Then all the flocks and herds that were grazing on the mountains
would hear him, wherever they might happen to be, and would come down
to the village--the cows by the easiest paths, the sheep by those not
quite so easy, and the goats by the steep and rocky ways that were
hardest of all.
But now, for a year or more, Old Pipes had not piped the cattle home.
It is true that every afternoon he sat upon the rock and played upon
his pipes; but the cattle did not hear him. He had grown old, and his
breath was feeble. The echoes of his cheerful notes, which used to
come from the rocky hill on the other side of the valley, were heard
no more; and twenty yards from Old Pipes one could scarcely tell what
tune he was playing. He had become somewhat deaf, and did not know
that the sound of his pipes was so thin and weak, and that the cattle
did not hear him. The cows, the sheep, and the goats came down every
afternoon as before; but this was because two boys and a girl were sent
up after them. The villagers did not wish the good old man to know that
his piping was no longer of any use; so they paid him his little salary
every month, and said nothing about the two boys and the girl.
Old Pipes’s mother was, of course, a great deal older than he was, and
was as deaf as a gate--posts, latch, hinges, and all--and she never
knew that the sound of her son’s pipe did not spread over all the
mountain-side and echo back strong and clear from the opposite hills.
She was very fond of Old Pipes, and proud of his piping; and as he was
so much younger than she was, she never thought of him as being very
old. She cooked for him, and made his bed, and mended his clothes; and
they lived very comfortably on his little salary.
One afternoon, at the end of the month, when Old Pipes had finished his
piping, he took his stout staff and went down the hill to the village
to receive the money for his month’s work. The path seemed a great deal
steeper and more difficult than it used to be; and Old Pipes thought
that it must have been washed by the rains and greatly damaged. He
remembered it as a path that was quite easy to traverse either up or
down. But Old Pipes had been a very active man, and as his mother was
so much older than he was, he never thought of himself as aged and
infirm.
When the Chief Villager had paid him, and he had talked a little with
some of his friends, Old Pipes started to go home. But when he had
crossed the bridge over the brook, and gone a short distance up the
hill-side, he became very tired, and sat down upon a stone. He had not
been sitting there half a minute, when along came two boys and a girl.
“Children,” said Old Pipes, “I’m very tired to-night, and I don’t
believe I can climb up this steep path to my home. I think I shall have
to ask you to help me.”
“We will do that,” said the boys and the girl, quite cheerfully; and
one boy took him by the right hand and the other by the left, while
the girl pushed him in the back. In this way he went up the hill quite
easily, and soon reached his cottage door. Old Pipes gave each of the
three children a copper coin, and then they sat down for a few minutes’
rest before starting back to the village.
“I’m sorry that I tired you so much,” said Old Pipes.
“Oh, that would not have tired us,” said one of the boys, “if we had
not been so far to-day after the cows, the sheep, and the goats. They
rambled high up on the mountain, and we never before had such a time in
finding them.”
“Had to go after the cows, the sheep, and the goats!” exclaimed Old
Pipes. “What do you mean by that?”
The girl, who stood behind the old man, shook her head, put her hand
on her mouth, and made all sorts of signs to the boy to stop talking
on this subject; but he did not notice her, and promptly answered Old
Pipes.
“Why, you see, good sir,” said he, “that as the cattle can’t hear your
pipes now, somebody has to go after them every evening to drive them
down from the mountain, and the Chief Villager has hired us three to do
it. Generally it is not very hard work, but to-night the cattle had
wandered far.”
“How long have you been doing this?” asked the old man.
The girl shook her head and clapped her hand on her mouth as before,
but the boy went on.
“I think it is about a year now,” he said, “since the people first felt
sure that the cattle could not hear your pipes; and from that time
we’ve been driving them down. But we are rested now, and will go home.
Good-night, sir.”
The three children then went down the hill, the girl scolding the boy
all the way home. Old Pipes stood silent a few moments, and then he
went into his cottage.
“Mother,” he shouted, “did you hear what those children said?”
“Children!” exclaimed the old woman; “I did not hear them. I did not
know there were any children here.”
Then Old Pipes told his mother--shouting very loudly to make her
hear--how the two boys and the girl had helped him up the hill, and
what he had heard about his piping and the cattle.
“They can’t hear you?” cried his mother. “Why, what’s the matter with
the cattle?”
“Ah, me!” said Old Pipes; “I don’t believe there’s anything the
matter with the cattle. It must be with me and my pipes that there is
something the matter. But one thing is certain: if I do not earn the
wages the Chief Villager pays me, I shall not take them. I shall go
straight down to the village and give back the money I received to-day.”
“Nonsense!” cried his mother. “I’m sure you’ve piped as well as you
could, and no more can be expected. And what are we to do without the
money?”
“I don’t know,” said Old Pipes; “but I’m going down to the village to
pay it back.”
The sun had now set; but the moon was shining very brightly on the
hill-side, and Old Pipes could see his way very well. He did not take
the same path by which he had gone before, but followed another, which
led among the trees upon the hill-side, and, though longer, was not so
steep.
When he had gone about half-way, the old man sat down to rest, leaning
his back against a great oak tree. As he did so, he heard a sound like
knocking inside the tree, and then a voice said:
“Let me out! let me out!”
Old Pipes instantly forgot that he was tired, and sprang to his feet.
“This must be a Dryad tree!” he exclaimed. “If it is, I’ll let her out.”
Old Pipes had never, to his knowledge, seen a Dryad tree, but he knew
there were such trees on the hill-sides and the mountains, and that
Dryads lived in them. He knew, too, that in the summer-time, on those
days when the moon rose before the sun went down, a Dryad could come
out of her tree if anyone could find the key which locked her in, and
turn it. Old Pipes closely examined the trunk of the tree, which stood
in the full moonlight. “If I see that key,” he said, “I shall surely
turn it.” Before long he found a piece of bark standing out from the
tree, which looked to him very much like the handle of a key. He took
hold of it, and found he could turn it quite around. As he did so, a
large part of the side of the tree was pushed open, and a beautiful
Dryad stepped quickly out.
For a moment she stood motionless, gazing on the scene before her--the
tranquil valley, the hills, the forest, and the mountain-side, all
lying in the soft clear light of the moon. “Oh, lovely! lovely!” she
exclaimed. “How long it is since I have seen anything like this!” And
then, turning to Old Pipes, she said: “How good of you to let me out!
I am so happy, and so thankful, that I must kiss you, you dear old
man!” And she threw her arms around the neck of Old Pipes, and kissed
him on both cheeks.
“You don’t know,” she then went on to say, “how doleful it is to be
shut up so long in a tree. I don’t mind it in the winter, for then I am
glad to be sheltered, but in summer it is a rueful thing not to be able
to see all the beauties of the world. And it’s ever so long since I’ve
been let out. People so seldom come this way; and when they do come at
the right time, they either don’t hear me or they are frightened and
run away. But you, you dear old man, you were not frightened, and you
looked and looked for the key, and you let me out; and now I shall not
have to go back till winter has come, and the air grows cold. Oh, it is
glorious! What can I do for you, to show you how grateful I am?”
“I am very glad,” said Old Pipes, “that I let you out, since I see that
it makes you so happy; but I must admit that I tried to find the key
because I had a great desire to see a Dryad. But, if you wish to do
something for me, you can, if you happen to be going down toward the
village.”
“To the village!” exclaimed the Dryad. “I will go anywhere for you, my
kind old benefactor.”
“Well, then,” said Old Pipes, “I wish you would take this little bag of
money to the Chief Villager and tell him that Old Pipes cannot receive
pay for the services which he does not perform. It is now more than a
year that I have not been able to make the cattle hear me, when I piped
to call them home. I did not know this until to-night; but now that I
know it, I cannot keep the money, and so I send it back.” And, handing
the little bag to the Dryad, he bade her good-night, and turned toward
his cottage.
“Good-night,” said the Dryad. “And I thank you over, and over, and over
again, you good old man!”
Old Pipes walked toward his home, very glad to be saved the fatigue of
going all the way down to the village and back again. “To be sure,” he
said to himself, “this path does not seem at all steep, and I can walk
along it very easily; but it would have tired me dreadfully to come up
all the way from the village, especially as I could not have expected
those children to help me again.” When he reached home his mother was
surprised to see him returning so soon.
“What!” she exclaimed; “have you already come back? What did the Chief
Villager say? Did he take the money?”
Old Pipes was just about to tell her that he had sent the money to the
village by a Dryad, when he suddenly reflected that his mother would be
sure to disapprove such a proceeding, and so he merely said he had sent
it by a person whom he had met.
“And how do you know that the person will ever take it to the Chief
Villager?” cried his mother. “You will lose it, and the villagers will
never get it. Oh, Pipes! Pipes! when will you be old enough to have
ordinary common-sense?”
Old Pipes considered that, as he was already seventy years of age,
he could scarcely expect to grow any wiser; but he made no remark on
this subject, and, saying that he doubted not that the money would
go safely to its destination, he sat down to his supper. His mother
scolded him roundly, but he did not mind it; and after supper he went
out and sat on a rustic chair in front of the cottage to look at the
moonlit village, and to wonder whether or not the Chief Villager really
received the money. While he was doing these two things, he went fast
asleep.
When Old Pipes left the Dryad, she did not go down to the village with
the little bag of money. She held it in her hand, and thought about
what she had heard. “This is a good and honest old man,” she said; “and
it is a shame that he should lose this money. He looked as if he needed
it, and I don’t believe the people in the village will take it from one
who has served them so long. Often, when in my tree, have I heard the
sweet notes of his pipes. I am going to take the money back to him.”
She did not start immediately, because there were so many beautiful
things to look at; but after awhile she went up to the cottage, and,
finding Old Pipes asleep in his chair, she slipped the little bag into
his coat-pocket, and silently sped away.
The next day Old Pipes told his mother that he would go up the mountain
and cut some wood. He had a right to get wood from the mountain, but
for a long time he had been content to pick up the dead branches which
lay about his cottage. To-day, however, he felt so strong and vigorous
that he thought he would go and cut some fuel that would be better than
this. He worked all the morning, and when he came back he did not feel
at all tired, and he had a very good appetite for his dinner.
Now, Old Pipes knew a good deal about Dryads; but there was one thing
which, although he had heard, he had forgotten. This was, that a kiss
from a Dryad made a person ten years younger.
The people of the village knew this, and they were very careful not
to let any child of ten years or younger go into the woods where the
Dryads were supposed to be; for, if they should chance to be kissed by
one of these tree-nymphs, they would be set back so far that they would
cease to exist.
A story was told in the village that a very bad boy of eleven once ran
away into the woods, and had an adventure of this kind; and when his
mother found him he was a little baby of one year old. Taking advantage
of her opportunity, she brought him up more carefully than she had done
before, and he grew to be a very good boy indeed.
Now Old Pipes had been kissed twice by the Dryad, once on each cheek,
and he therefore felt as vigorous and active as when he was a hale man
of fifty. His mother noticed how much work he was doing, and told him
that he need not try in that way to make up for the loss of his piping
wages; for he would only tire himself out, and get sick. But her son
answered that he had not felt so well for years, and that he was quite
able to work.
In the course of the afternoon, Old Pipes, for the first time that day,
put his hand in his coat-pocket, and there, to his amazement, he found
the little bag of money. “Well, well!” he exclaimed, “I am stupid,
indeed! I really thought that I had seen a Dryad; but when I sat down
by that big oak tree I must have gone to sleep and dreamed it all; and
then I came home, thinking I had given the money to a Dryad, when it
was in my pocket all the time. But the Chief Villager shall have the
money. I shall not take it to him to-day, but to-morrow I wish to go to
the village to see some of my old friends; and then I shall give up the
money.”
Toward the close of the afternoon, Old Pipes, as had been his custom
for so many years, took his pipes from the shelf on which they lay, and
went out to the rock in front of the cottage.
“What are you going to do?” cried his mother. “If you will not consent
to be paid, why do you pipe?”
“I am going to pipe for my own pleasure,” said her son. “I am used to
it, and I do not wish to give it up. It does not matter now whether
the cattle hear me or not, and I am sure that my piping will injure no
one.”
When the good man began to play upon his favorite instrument he was
astonished at the sound that came from it. The beautiful notes of the
pipes sounded clear and strong down into the valley, and spread over
the hills, and up the sides of the mountain beyond, while, after a
little interval, an echo came back from the rocky hill on the other
side of the valley.
“Ha! ha!” he cried, “what has happened to my pipes? They must have been
stopped up of late, but now they are as clear and good as ever.”
Again the merry notes went sounding far and wide. The cattle on the
mountain heard them, and those that were old enough remembered how
these notes had called them from their pastures every evening, and so
they started down the mountain-side, the others following.
The merry notes were heard in the village below, and the people were
much astonished thereby. “Why, who can be blowing the pipes of Old
Pipes?” they said. But, as they were all very busy, no one went up to
see. One thing, however, was plain enough: the cattle were coming down
the mountain. And so the two boys and the girl did not have to go after
them, and had an hour for play, for which they were very glad.
The next morning Old Pipes started down to the village with his money,
and on the way he met the Dryad. “Oh, ho!” he cried, “is that you? Why,
I thought my letting you out of the tree was nothing but a dream.”
“A dream!” cried the Dryad; “if you only knew how happy you have made
me, you would not think it merely a dream. And has it not benefited
you? Do you not feel happier? Yesterday I heard you playing beautifully
on your pipes.”
“Yes, yes,” cried he. “I did not understand it before, but I see it all
now. I have really grown younger. I thank you, I thank you, good Dryad,
from the bottom of my heart. It was the finding of the money in my
pocket that made me think it was a dream.”
“Oh, I put it in when you were asleep,” she said, laughing, “because I
thought you ought to keep it. Good-by, kind, honest man. May you live
long, and be as happy as I am now.”
Old Pipes was greatly delighted when he understood that he was really a
younger man; but that made no difference about the money, and he kept
on his way to the village. As soon as he reached it, he was eagerly
questioned as to who had been playing his pipes the evening before,
and when the people heard that it was himself they were very much
surprised. Thereupon Old Pipes told what had happened to him, and then
there was greater wonder, with hearty congratulations and hand-shakes;
for Old Pipes was liked by everyone. The Chief Villager refused to
take his money; and although Old Pipes said that he had not earned it,
everyone present insisted that, as he would now play on his pipes as
before, he should lose nothing because, for a time, he was unable to
perform his duty.
So Old Pipes was obliged to keep his money, and after an hour or two
spent in conversation with his friends he returned to his cottage.
There was one person, however, who was not pleased with what had
happened to Old Pipes. This was an Echo-dwarf who lived on the hills
across the valley. It was his work to echo back the notes of the pipes
whenever they could be heard.
A great many other Echo-dwarfs lived on these hills. They all worked,
but in different ways. Some echoed back the songs of maidens, some the
shouts of children, and others the music that was often heard in the
village. But there was only one who could send back the strong notes of
the pipes of Old Pipes, and this had been his sole duty for many years.
But when the old man grew feeble, and the notes of his pipes could not
be heard on the opposite hills, this Echo-dwarf had nothing to do, and
he spent his time in delightful idleness; and he slept so much and grew
so fat that it made his companions laugh to see him walk.
On the afternoon on which, after so long an interval, the sound of the
pipes was heard on the echo hills, this dwarf was fast asleep behind a
rock. As soon as the first notes reached them, some of his companions
ran to wake him up. Rolling to his feet, he echoed back the merry tune
of Old Pipes.
Naturally, he was very angry at being thus obliged to give up his life
of comfort, and he hoped very much that this pipe-playing would not
occur again. The next afternoon he was awake and listening, and, sure
enough, at the usual hour, along came the notes of the pipes as clear
and strong as they ever had been; and he was obliged to work as long
as Old Pipes played. The Echo-dwarf was very angry. He had supposed,
of course, that the pipe-playing had ceased forever, and he felt that
he had a right to be indignant at being thus deceived. He was so much
disturbed that he made up his mind to go and try to find out how long
this was to last. He had plenty of time, as the pipes were played but
once a day, and he set off early in the morning for the hill on which
Old Pipes lived. It was hard work for the fat little fellow, and when
he had crossed the valley and had gone some distance into the woods on
the hill-side, he stopped to rest, and in a few minutes the Dryad came
tripping along.
“Ho, ho!” exclaimed the dwarf; “what are you doing here? and how did
you get out of your tree?”
“Doing!” cried the Dryad; “I am being happy; that’s what I am doing.
And I was let out of my tree by the good old man who plays the pipes
to call the cattle down from the mountain. And it makes me happier to
think that I have been of service to him. I gave him two kisses of
gratitude, and now he is young enough to play his pipes as well as
ever.”
The Echo-dwarf stepped forward, his face pale with passion, “Am I to
believe,” he said, “that you are the cause of this great evil that
has come upon me? and that you are the wicked creature who has again
started this old man upon his career of pipe-playing? What have I ever
done to you that you should have condemned me for years and years to
echo back the notes of those wretched pipes?”
At this the Dryad laughed loudly.
“What a funny little fellow you are!” she said. “Anyone would think
you had been condemned to toil from morning till night; while what you
really have to do is merely to imitate for half an hour every day the
merry notes of Old Pipes’s piping. Fie upon you, Echo-dwarf! You are
lazy and selfish; and that is what is the matter with you. Instead
of grumbling at being obliged to do a little wholesome work, which
is less, I am sure, than that of any other echo-dwarf upon the rocky
hill-side, you should rejoice at the good fortune of the old man who
has regained so much of his strength and vigor. Go home and learn to be
just and generous; and then, perhaps, you may be happy. Good-by.”
“Insolent creature!” shouted the dwarf, as he shook his fat little fist
at her. “I’ll make you suffer for this. You shall find out what it is
to heap injury and insult upon one like me, and to snatch from him the
repose that he has earned by long years of toil.” And, shaking his head
savagely, he hurried back to the rocky hill-side.
Every afternoon the merry notes of the pipes of Old Pipes sounded down
into the valley and over the hills and up the mountain-side; and every
afternoon when he had echoed them back, the little dwarf grew more
and more angry with the Dryad. Each day, from early morning till it
was time for him to go back to his duties upon the rocky hill-side, he
searched the woods for her. He intended, if he met her, to pretend to
be very sorry for what he had said, and he thought he might be able to
play a trick upon her which would avenge him well.
One day, while thus wandering among the trees, he met Old Pipes. The
Echo-dwarf did not generally care to see or speak to ordinary people;
but now he was so anxious to find the object of his search, that he
stopped and asked Old Pipes if he had seen the Dryad. The piper had not
noticed the little fellow, and he looked down on him with some surprise.
“No,” he said; “I have not seen her, and I have been looking everywhere
for her.”
“You!” cried the dwarf, “what do you wish with her?”
Old Pipes then sat down on a stone, so that he should be nearer the ear
of his small companion, and he told what the Dryad had done for him.
When the Echo-dwarf heard that this was the man whose pipes he was
obliged to echo back every day, he would have slain him on the spot,
had he been able; but, as he was not able, he merely ground his teeth
and listened to the rest of the story.
“I am looking for the Dryad now,” Old Pipes continued, “on account of
my aged mother. When I was old myself, I did not notice how very old
my mother was; but now it shocks me to see how feeble her years have
caused her to become; and I am looking for the Dryad to ask her to make
my mother younger, as she made me.”
The eyes of the Echo-dwarf glistened. Here was a man who might help him
in his plans.
“Your idea is a good one,” he said to Old Pipes, “and it does you
honor. But you should know that a Dryad can make no person younger but
one who lets her out of her tree. However, you can manage the affair
very easily. All you need do is to find the Dryad, tell her what you
want, and request her to step into her tree and be shut up for a short
time. Then you will go and bring your mother to the tree; she will open
it, and everything will be as you wish. Is not this a good plan?”
“Excellent!” cried Old Pipes; “and I will go instantly and search more
diligently for the Dryad.”
“Take me with you,” said the Echo-dwarf. “You can easily carry me on
your strong shoulders; and I shall be glad to help you in any way that
I can.”
“Now then,” said the little fellow to himself, as Old Pipes carried
him rapidly along, “if he persuades the Dryad to get into a tree,--and
she is quite foolish enough to do it,--and then goes away to bring his
mother, I shall take a stone or a club and I will break off the key of
that tree, so that nobody can ever turn it again. Then Mistress Dryad
will see what she has brought upon herself by her behavior to me.”
Before long they came to the great oak tree in which the Dryad had
lived, and at a distance they saw that beautiful creature herself
coming toward them.
“How excellently well everything happens?” said the dwarf. “Put me
down, and I will go. Your business with the Dryad is more important
than mine; and you need not say anything about my having suggested your
plan to you. I am willing that you should have all the credit of it
yourself.”
Old Pipes put the Echo-dwarf upon the ground, but the little rogue did
not go away. He hid himself between some low, mossy rocks, and he was
so much like them in color that you would not have noticed him if you
had been looking straight at him.
When the Dryad came up, Old Pipes lost no time in telling her about
his mother, and what he wished her to do. At first, the Dryad answered
nothing, but stood looking very sadly at Old Pipes.
“Do you really wish me to go into my tree again?” she said. “I should
dreadfully dislike to do it, for I don’t know what might happen. It is
not at all necessary, for I could make your mother younger at any time
if she would give me the opportunity. I had already thought of making
you still happier in this way, and several times I have waited about
your cottage, hoping to meet your aged mother, but she never comes
outside, and you know a Dryad cannot enter a house. I cannot imagine
what put this idea into your head. Did you think of it yourself?”
“No, I cannot say that I did,” answered Old Pipes. “A little dwarf whom
I met in the woods proposed it to me.”
“Oh!” cried the Dryad; “now I see through it all. It is the scheme of
that vile Echo-dwarf--your enemy and mine. Where is he? I should like
to see him.”
“I think he has gone away,” said Old Pipes.
“No, he has not,” said the Dryad, whose quick eyes perceived the
Echo-dwarf among the rocks, “There he is. Seize him and drag him out,
I beg of you.”
Old Pipes saw the dwarf as soon as he was pointed out to him; and
running to the rocks, he caught the little fellow by the arm and pulled
him out.
“Now, then,” cried the Dryad, who had opened the door of the great oak,
“just stick him in there, and we will shut him up. Then I shall be safe
from his mischief for the rest of the time I am free.”
Old Pipes thrust the Echo-dwarf into the tree; the Dryad pushed the
door shut; there was a clicking sound of bark and wood, and no one
would have noticed that the big oak had ever had an opening in it.
“There,” said the Dryad; “now we need not be afraid of him. And I
assure you, my good piper, that I shall be very glad to make your
mother younger as soon as I can. Will you not ask her to come out and
meet me?”
“Of course I will,” cried Old Pipes; “and I will do it without delay.”
And then, the Dryad by his side, he hurried to his cottage. But when
he mentioned the matter to his mother, the old woman became very angry
indeed. She did not believe in Dryads; and, if they really did exist,
she knew they must be witches and sorceresses, and she would have
nothing to do with them. If her son had ever allowed himself to be
kissed by one of them, he ought to be ashamed of himself. As to its
doing him the least bit of good, she did not believe a word of it. He
felt better than he used to feel, but that was very common. She had
sometimes felt that way herself, and she forbade him ever to mention a
Dryad to her again.
That afternoon, Old Pipes, feeling very sad that his plan in regard
to his mother had failed, sat down upon the rock and played upon his
pipes. The pleasant sounds went down the valley and up the hills and
mountain, but, to the great surprise of some persons who happened
to notice the fact, the notes were not echoed back from the rocky
hill-side, but from the woods on the side of the valley on which Old
Pipes lived. The next day many of the villagers stopped in their work
to listen to the echo of the pipes coming from the woods. The sound was
not as clear and strong as it used to be when it was sent back from the
rocky hill-side, but it certainly came from among the trees. Such a
thing as an echo changing its place in this way had never been heard of
before, and nobody was able to explain how it could have happened. Old
Pipes, however, knew very well that the sound came from the Echo-dwarf
shut up in the great oak tree. The sides of the tree were thin, and
the sound of the pipes could be heard through them, and the dwarf was
obliged by the laws of his being to echo back those notes whenever they
came to him. But Old Pipes thought he might get the Dryad in trouble if
he let anyone know that the Echo-dwarf was shut up in the tree, and so
he wisely said nothing about it.
One day the two boys and the girl who had helped Old Pipes up the hill
were playing in the woods. Stopping near the great oak tree, they heard
a sound of knocking within it, and then a voice plainly said:
“Let me out! let me out!”
For a moment the children stood still in astonishment, and then one of
the boys exclaimed:
“Oh, it is a Dryad, like the one Old Pipes found! Let’s let her out!”
“What are you thinking of?” cried the girl. “I am the oldest of all,
and I am only thirteen. Do you wish to be turned into crawling babies?
Run! run! run!”
And the two boys and the girl dashed down into the valley as fast as
their legs could carry them. There was no desire in their youthful
hearts to be made younger than they were, and for fear that their
parents might think it well that they should commence their careers
anew, they never said a word about finding the Dryad tree.
As the summer days went on, Old Pipes’ mother grew feebler and feebler.
One day when her son was away, for he now frequently went into the
woods to hunt or fish, or down into the valley to work, she arose from
her knitting to prepare the simple dinner. But she felt so weak and
tired that she was not able to do the work to which she had been so
long accustomed. “Alas! alas!” she said, “the time has come when I am
too old to work. My son will have to hire someone to come here and cook
his meals, make his bed, and mend his clothes. Alas! alas! I had hoped
that as long as I lived I should be able to do these things. But it is
not so. I have grown utterly worthless, and someone else must prepare
the dinner for my son. I wonder where he is.” And tottering to the
door, she went outside to look for him. She did not feel able to stand,
and reaching the rustic chair, she sank into it, quite exhausted, and
soon fell asleep.
The Dryad, who had often come to the cottage to see if she could find
an opportunity of carrying out Old Pipes’s affectionate design, now
happened by; and seeing that the much-desired occasion had come, she
stepped up quietly behind the old woman and gently kissed her on each
cheek, and then as quietly disappeared.
In a few minutes the mother of Old Pipes awoke, and looking up at the
sun, she exclaimed: “Why, it is almost dinner-time! My son will be here
directly, and I am not ready for him.” And rising to her feet, she
hurried into the house, made the fire, set the meat and vegetables to
cook, laid the cloth, and by the time her son arrived the meal was on
the table.
“How a little sleep does refresh one,” she said to herself, as she was
bustling about. She was a woman of very vigorous constitution, and at
seventy had been a great deal stronger and more active than her son
was at that age. The moment Old Pipes saw his mother, he knew that the
Dryad had been there; but, while he felt as happy as a king, he was too
wise to say anything about her.
“It is astonishing how well I feel to-day,” said his mother; “and
either my hearing has improved or you speak much more plainly than you
have done of late.”
The summer days went on and passed away, the leaves were falling from
the trees, and the air was becoming cold.
“Nature has ceased to be lovely,” said the Dryad, “and the night-winds
chill me. It is time for me to go back into my comfortable quarters in
the great oak. But first I must pay another visit to the cottage of Old
Pipes.”
She found the piper and his mother sitting side by side on the rock in
front of the door. The cattle were not to go to the mountain any more
that season, and he was piping them down for the last time. Loud and
merrily sounded the pipes of Old Pipes, and down the mountain-side came
the cattle, the cows by the easiest paths, the sheep by those not quite
so easy, and the goats by the most difficult ones among the rocks:
while from the great oak tree were heard the echoes of the cheerful
music.
“How happy they look, sitting there together,” said the Dryad; “and I
don’t believe it will do them a bit of harm to be still younger.” And
moving quietly up behind them, she first kissed Old Pipes on his cheek
and then kissed his mother.
Old Pipes, who had stopped playing, knew what it was, but he did not
move, and said nothing. His mother, thinking that her son had kissed
her, turned to him with a smile and kissed him in return. And then she
arose and went into the cottage, a vigorous woman of sixty, followed by
her son, erect and happy, and twenty years younger than herself.
The Dryad sped away to the woods, shrugging her shoulders as she felt
the cool evening wind.
When she reached the great oak, she turned the key and opened the
door. “Come out,” she said to the Echo-dwarf, who sat blinking within.
“Winter is coming on, and I want the comfortable shelter of my tree for
myself. The cattle have come down from the mountain for the last time
this year, the pipes will no longer sound, and you can go to your rocks
and have a holiday until next spring.”
Upon hearing these words the dwarf skipped quickly out, and the Dryad
entered the tree and pulled the door shut after her. “Now, then,” she
said to herself, “he can break off the key if he likes. It does not
matter to me. Another will grow out next spring. And although the good
piper made me no promise, I know that when the warm days arrive next
year, he will come and let me out again.”
The Echo-dwarf did not stop to break the key of the tree. He was too
happy to be released to think of anything else, and he hastened as
fast as he could to his home on the rocky hill-side.
* * * * *
The Dryad was not mistaken when she trusted in the piper. When the warm
days came again he went to the oak tree to let her out. But, to his
sorrow and surprise, he found the great tree lying upon the ground. A
winter storm had blown it down, and it lay with its trunk shattered and
split. And what became of the Dryad no one ever knew.
THE BEE-MAN OF ORN
In the ancient country of Orn there lived an old man who was called the
Bee-man, because his whole time was spent in the company of bees. He
lived in a small hut, which was nothing more than an immense bee-hive,
for these little creatures had built their honey-combs in every corner
of the one room it contained, on the shelves, under the little table,
all about the rough bench on which the old man sat, and even about the
head-board and along the sides of his low bed.
All day the air of the room was thick with buzzing insects, but this
did not interfere in any way with the old Bee-man, who walked in among
them, ate his meals, and went to sleep, without the slightest fear of
being stung.
He had lived with the bees so long, they had become so accustomed to
him, and his skin was so tough and hard, that the bees no more thought
of stinging him than they would of stinging a tree or a stone. A swarm
of bees had made their hive in a pocket of his old leathern doublet;
and when he put on this coat to take one of his long walks in the
forest in search of wild bees’ nests, he was very glad to have this
hive with him, for, if he did not find any wild honey, he would put
his hand in his pocket and take out a piece of a comb for a luncheon.
The bees in his pocket worked very industriously, and he was always
certain of having something to eat with him wherever he went. He lived
principally upon honey; and when he needed bread or meat, he carried
some fine combs to a village not far away and bartered them for other
food. He was ugly, untidy, shrivelled, and brown. He was poor, and the
bees seemed to be his only friends. But, for all that, he was happy
and contented; he had all the honey he wanted, and his bees, whom he
considered the best company in the world, were as friendly and sociable
as they could be, and seemed to increase in number every day.
One day there stopped at the hut of the Bee-man a Junior Sorcerer.
This young person, who was a student of magic, was much interested
in the Bee-man, whom he had often noticed in his wanderings, and he
considered him an admirable subject for study. He had got a great deal
of useful practice by trying to find out, by the various rules and laws
of sorcery, exactly why the old Bee-man did not happen to be something
that he was not, and why he was what he happened to be. He had studied
a long time at this matter, and had found out something.
“Do you know,” he said, when the Bee-man came out of his hut, “that you
have been transformed?”
“What do you mean by that?” said the other, much surprised.
“You have surely heard of animals and human beings who have been
magically transformed into different kinds of creatures?”
“Yes, I have heard of these things,” said the Bee-man; “but what have I
been transformed from?”
“That is more than I know,” said the Junior Sorcerer. “But one thing
is certain: you ought to be changed back. If you will find out what
you have been transformed from, I will see that you are made all right
again. Nothing would please me better than to attend to such a case.”
And, having a great many things to study and investigate, the Junior
Sorcerer went his way.
This information greatly disturbed the mind of the Bee-man. If he had
been changed from something else, he ought to be that other thing,
whatever it was. He ran after the young man, and overtook him.
“If you know, kind sir,” he said, “that I have been transformed, you
surely are able to tell me what it is that I was.”
“No,” said the Junior Sorcerer, “my studies have not proceeded far
enough for that. When I become a senior I can tell you all about it.
But, in the meantime, it will be well for you to try to find out for
yourself your original form; and when you have done that, I will get
some of the learned masters of my art to restore you to it. It will be
easy enough to do that, but you could not expect them to take the time
and trouble to find out what it was.”
And, with these words, he hurried away, and was soon lost to view.
Greatly disturbed, the Bee-man retraced his steps, and went to his hut.
Never before had he heard anything which had so troubled him.
“I wonder what I was transformed from?” he thought, seating himself on
his rough bench. “Could it have been a giant, or a powerful prince, or
some gorgeous being whom the magicians or the fairies wished to punish?
It may be that I was a dog or a horse, or perhaps a fiery dragon or
a horrid snake. I hope it was not one of these. But whatever it was,
everyone has certainly a right to his original form, and I am resolved
to find out mine. I will start early to-morrow morning; and I am sorry
now that I have not more pockets to my old doublet, so that I might
carry more bees and more honey for my journey.”
He spent the rest of the day in making a hive of twigs and straw; and,
having transferred to this a number of honey-combs and a colony of bees
which had just swarmed, he rose before sunrise the next day, and having
put on his leathern doublet, and having bound his new hive to his back,
he set forth on his quest, the bees who were to accompany him buzzing
around him like a cloud.
As the Bee-man pressed through the little village the people greatly
wondered at his queer appearance, with the hive upon his back. “The
Bee-man is going on a long journey this time,” they said; but no one
imagined the strange business on which he was bent. About noon he sat
down under a tree, near a beautiful meadow covered with blossoms, and
ate a little honey. Then he untied his hive and stretched himself out
on the grass to rest. As he gazed upon his bees hovering about him,
some going out to the blossoms in the sunshine, and some returning
laden with the sweet pollen, he said to himself, “They know just what
they have to do, and they do it; but alas for me! I know not what I may
have to do. And yet, whatever it may be, I am determined to do it. In
some way or other I will find out what was my original form, and then I
will have myself changed back to it.”
And now the thought came to him that perhaps his original form might
have been something very disagreeable, or even horrid.
“But it does not matter,” he said sturdily. “Whatever I was that shall
I be again. It is not right for anyone to keep a form which does not
properly belong to him. I have no doubt I shall discover my original
form in the same way that I find the trees in which the wild bees hive.
When I first catch sight of a bee tree I am drawn toward it, I know not
how. Something says to me: ‘That is what you are looking for.’ In the
same way I believe that I shall find my original form. When I see it, I
shall be drawn toward it. Something will say to me: ‘That is it.’”
When the Bee-man was rested he started off again, and in about an hour
he entered a fair domain. Around him were beautiful lawns, grand
trees, and lovely gardens; while at a little distance stood the stately
palace of the Lord of the Domain. Richly dressed people were walking
about or sitting in the shade of the trees and arbors; splendidly
equipped horses were waiting for their riders; and everywhere were seen
signs of wealth and gayety.
“I think,” said the Bee-man to himself, “that I should like to stop
here for a time. If it should happen that I was originally like any of
these happy creatures it would please me much.”
He untied his hive, and hid it behind some bushes, and, taking off his
old doublet, laid that beside it. It would not do to have his bees
flying about him if he wished to go among the inhabitants of this fair
domain.
For two days the Bee-man wandered about the palace and its grounds,
avoiding notice as much as possible, but looking at everything. He saw
handsome men and lovely ladies; the finest horses, dogs, and cattle
that were ever known; beautiful birds in cages, and fishes in crystal
globes: and it seemed to him that the best of all living things were
here collected.
At the close of the second day the Bee-man said to himself: “There is
one being here toward whom I feel very much drawn, and that is the
Lord of the Domain. I cannot feel certain that I was once like him, but
it would be a very fine thing if it were so; and it seems impossible
for me to be drawn toward any other being in the domain when I look
upon him, so handsome, rich, and powerful. But I must observe him more
closely, and feel more sure of the matter, before applying to the
sorcerers to change me back into a lord of a fair domain.”
The next morning the Bee-man saw the Lord of the Domain walking in
his gardens. He slipped along the shady paths, and followed him so as
to observe him closely, and find out if he were really drawn toward
this noble and handsome being. The Lord of the Domain walked on for
some time, not noticing that the Bee-man was behind him. But suddenly
turning, he saw the little old man.
“What are you doing here, you vile beggar?” he cried, and he gave him a
kick that sent him into some bushes that grew by the side of the path.
The Bee-man scrambled to his feet, and ran as fast as he could to the
place where he had hidden his hive and his old doublet.
“If I am certain of anything,” he thought, “it is that I was never a
person who would kick a poor old man. I will leave this place. I was
transformed from nothing that I see here.”
He now travelled for a day or two longer, and then he came to a great
black mountain, near the bottom of which was an opening like the mouth
of a cave.
This mountain he had heard was filled with caverns and underground
passages, which were the abodes of dragons, evil spirits, horrid
creatures of all kinds.
“Ah me!” said the Bee-man with a sigh, “I suppose I ought to visit this
place. If I am going to do this thing properly, I should look on all
sides of the subject, and I may have been one of those horrid creatures
myself.”
Thereupon he went to the mountain, and, as he approached the opening of
the passage which led into its inmost recesses, he saw, sitting upon
the ground, and leaning his back against a tree, a Languid Youth.
“Good-day,” said this individual when he saw the Bee-man. “Are you
going inside?”
“Yes,” said the Bee-man, “that is what I intend to do.”
“Then,” said the Languid Youth, slowly rising to his feet, “I think I
will go with you. I was told that if I went in there I should get my
energies toned up, and they need it very much; but I did not feel equal
to entering by myself, and I thought I would wait until some one came
along. I am very glad to see you, and we will go in together.”
So the two went into the cave, and they had proceeded but a short
distance when they met a very little creature, whom it was easy to
recognize as a Very Imp. He was about two feet high, and resembled in
color a freshly polished pair of boots. He was extremely lively and
active, and came bounding toward them.
“What did you two people come here for?” he asked.
“I came,” said the Languid Youth, “to have my energies toned up.”
“You have come to the right place,” said the Very Imp. “We will tone
you up. And what does that old Bee-man want?”
“He has been transformed from something, and wants to find out what it
is. He thinks he may have been one of the things in here.”
“I should not wonder if that were so,” said the Very Imp, rolling his
head on one side, and eying the Bee-man with a critical gaze.
“All right,” said the Very Imp; “he can go around, and pick out his
previous existence. We have here all sorts of vile creepers, crawlers,
hissers, and snorters. I suppose he thinks anything will be better than
a Bee-man.”
“It is not because I want to be better than I am,” said the Bee-man,
“that I started out on this search. I have simply an honest desire to
become what I originally was.”
“Oh! that is it, is it?” said the other. “There is an idiotic moon-calf
here with a clam head, which must be just like what you used to be.”
“Nonsense,” said the Bee-man. “You have not the least idea what an
honest purpose is. I shall go about and see for myself.”
“Go ahead,” said the Very Imp, “and I will attend to this fellow who
wants to be toned up.” So saying he joined the Languid Youth.
“Look here,” said the Youth, “do you black and shine yourself every
morning?”
“No,” said the other, “it is water-proof varnish. You want to be
invigorated, don’t you? Well, I will tell you a splendid way to begin.
You see that Bee-man has put down his hive and his coat with the bees
in it. Just wait till he gets out of sight, and then catch a lot of
those bees, and squeeze them flat. If you spread them on a sticky rag,
and make a plaster, and put it on the small of your back, it will
invigorate you like everything, especially if some of the bees are not
quite dead.”
“Yes,” said the Languid Youth, looking at him with his mild eyes, “but
if I had energy enough to catch a bee I would be satisfied. Suppose you
catch a lot for me.”
“The subject is changed,” said the Very Imp. “We are now about to visit
the spacious chamber of the King of the Snap-dragons.”
“That is a flower,” said the Languid Youth.
“You will find him a gay old blossom,” said the other. “When he has
chased you round his room, and has blown sparks at you, and has snorted
and howled, and cracked his tail, and snapped his jaws like a pair of
anvils, your energies will be toned up higher than ever before in your
life.”
“No doubt of it,” said the Languid Youth; “but I think I will begin
with something a little milder.”
“Well, then,” said the other, “there is a flat-tailed Demon of the
Gorge in here. He is generally asleep, and, if you say so, you can slip
into the farthest corner of his cave, and I’ll solder his tail to the
opposite wall. Then he will rage and roar, but he can’t get at you, for
he doesn’t reach all the way across his cave; I have measured him. It
will tone you up wonderfully to sit there and watch him.”
“Very likely,” said the Languid Youth; “but I would rather stay outside
and let you go up in the corner. The performance in that way will be
more interesting to me.”
“You are dreadfully hard to please,” said the Very Imp. “I have offered
them to you loose, and I have offered them fastened to a wall, and now
the best thing I can do is to give you a chance at one of them that
can’t move at all. It is the Ghastly Griffin, and is enchanted. He
can’t stir so much as the tip of his whiskers for a thousand years. You
can go to his cave and examine him just as if he were stuffed, and then
you can sit on his back and think how it would be if you should live to
be a thousand years old, and he should wake up while you are sitting
there. It would be easy to imagine a lot of horrible things he would
do to you when you look at his open mouth with its awful fangs, his
dreadful claws, and his horrible wings all covered with spikes.”
“I think that might suit me,” said the Languid Youth. “I would much
rather imagine the exercises of these monsters than to see them really
going on.”
“Come on, then,” said the Very Imp, and he led the way to the cave of
the Ghastly Griffin.
The Bee-man went by himself through a great part of the mountain,
and looked into many of its gloomy caves and recesses, recoiling in
horror from most of the dreadful monsters who met his eyes. While
he was wandering about, an awful roar was heard resounding through
the passages of the mountain, and soon there came flapping along an
enormous dragon, with body black as night, and wings and tail of fiery
red. In his great fore-claws he bore a little baby.
“Horrible!” exclaimed the Bee-man. “He is taking that little creature
to his cave to devour it.”
He saw the dragon enter a cave not far away, and, following, looked
in. The dragon was crouched upon the ground with the little baby lying
before him. It did not seem to be hurt, but was frightened and crying.
The monster was looking upon it with delight, as if he intended to make
a dainty meal of it as soon as his appetite should be a little stronger.
“It is too bad!” thought the Bee-man. “Somebody ought to do something.”
And turning around, he ran away as fast as he could.
He ran through various passages until he came to the spot where he had
left his bee-hive. Picking it up, he hurried back, carrying the hive
in his two hands before him. When he reached the cave of the dragon,
he looked in and saw the monster still crouched over the weeping
child. Without a moment’s hesitation, the Bee-man rushed into the cave
and threw his hive straight into the face of the dragon. The bees,
enraged by the shock, rushed out in an angry crowd and immediately
fell upon the head, mouth, eyes, and nose of the dragon. The great
monster, astounded by this sudden attack, and driven almost wild by the
numberless stings of the bees, sprang back to the farthest corner of
his cave, still followed by the bees, at whom he flapped wildly with
his great wings and struck with his paws. While the dragon was thus
engaged with the bees, the Bee-man rushed forward, and, seizing the
child, he hurried away. He did not stop to pick up his doublet, but
kept on until he reached the entrance of the cave. There he saw the
Very Imp hopping along on one leg, and rubbing his back and shoulders
with his hands, and stopped to inquire what was the matter, and what
had become of the Languid Youth.
“He is no kind of a fellow,” said the Very Imp. “He disappointed me
dreadfully. I took him up to the Ghastly Griffin, and told him the
thing was enchanted, and that he might sit on its back and think about
what it could do if it was awake; and when he came near it the wretched
creature opened its eyes, and raised its head, and then you ought to
have seen how mad that simpleton was. He made a dash at me and seized
me by the ears; he kicked and beat me till I can scarcely move.”
“His energies must have been toned up a good deal,” said the Bee-man.
“Toned up! I should say so!” cried the other. “I raised a howl, and a
Scissor-jawed Clipper came out of his hole, and got after him; but that
lazy fool ran so fast that he could not be caught.”
The Bee-man now ran on and soon overtook the Languid Youth.
“You need not be in a hurry now,” said the latter, “for the rules
of this institution don’t allow the creatures inside to come out of
this opening, or to hang around it. If they did, they would frighten
away visitors. They go in and out of holes in the upper part of the
mountain.”
The two proceeded on their way.
“What are you going to do with that baby?” said the Languid Youth.
“I shall carry it along with me,” said the Bee-man, “as I go on with my
search, and perhaps I may find its mother. If I do not, I shall give
it to somebody in that little village yonder. Anything would be better
than leaving it to be devoured by that horrid dragon.”
“Let me carry it. I feel quite strong enough now to carry a baby.”
“Thank you,” said the Bee-man; “but I can take it myself. I like to
carry something, and I have now neither my hive nor my doublet.”
“It is very well that you had to leave them behind,” said the Youth,
“for the bees would have stung the baby.”
“My bees never sting babies,” said the other.
“They probably never had a chance,” remarked his companion.
They soon entered the village, and after walking a short distance the
Youth exclaimed. “Do you see that woman over there sitting at the door
of her house? She has beautiful hair, and she is tearing it all to
pieces. She should not be allowed to do that.”
“No,” said the Bee-man. “Her friends should tie her hands.”
“Perhaps she is the mother of this child,” said the Youth, “and if you
give it to her she will no longer think of tearing her hair.”
“But,” said the Bee-man, “you don’t really think this is her child?”
“Suppose you go over and see,” said the other.
The Bee-man hesitated a moment, and then he walked toward the woman.
Hearing him coming, she raised her head, and when she saw the child she
rushed toward it, snatched it into her arms, and screaming with joy she
covered it with kisses. Then with happy tears she begged to know the
story of the rescue of her child, whom she never expected to see again;
and she loaded the Bee-man with thanks and blessings. The friends and
neighbors gathered around, and there was great rejoicing. The mother
urged the Bee-man and the Youth to stay with her, and rest and refresh
themselves, which they were glad to do, as they were tired and hungry.
They remained at the cottage all night, and in the afternoon of the
next day the Bee-man said to the Youth: “It may seem an odd thing to
you, but never in all my life have I felt myself drawn toward any
living being as I am drawn toward this baby. Therefore I believe that I
have been transformed from a baby.”
“Good!” cried the Youth. “It is my opinion that you have hit the truth.
And now would you like to be changed back to your original form?”
“Indeed I would!” said the Bee-man. “I have the strongest yearning to
be what I originally was.”
The Youth, who had now lost every trace of languid feeling, took a
great interest in the matter, and early the next morning started off to
tell the Junior Sorcerer that the Bee-man had discovered what he had
been transformed from, and desired to be changed back to it.
The Junior Sorcerer and his learned Masters were filled with delight
when they heard this report, and they at once set out for the mother’s
cottage. And there by magic arts the Bee-man was changed back into a
baby. The mother was so grateful for what the Bee-man had done for her
that she agreed to take charge of this baby, and to bring it up as her
own.
“It will be a grand thing for him,” said the Junior Sorcerer, “and I am
glad that I studied his case. He will now have a fresh start in life,
and will have a chance to become something better than a miserable old
man living in a wretched hut with no friends or companions but buzzing
bees.”
The Junior Sorcerer and his Masters then returned to their homes, happy
in the success of their great performance; and the Youth went back to
his home anxious to begin a life of activity and energy.
Years and years afterward, when the Junior Sorcerer had become a
Senior and was very old indeed, he passed through the country of
Orn, and noticed a small hut about which swarms of bees were flying.
He approached it, and looking in at the door he saw an old man in a
leathern doublet, sitting at a table, eating honey. By his magic art he
knew this was the baby which had been transformed from the Bee-man.
“Upon my word!” exclaimed the Sorcerer, “he has grown into the same
thing again!”
THE CLOCKS OF RONDAINE
Centuries ago, there stood on the banks of a river a little town called
Rondaine. The river was a long and winding stream which ran through
different countries, and was sometimes narrow and swift, and sometimes
broad and placid; sometimes hurrying through mountain passes, and again
meandering quietly through fertile plains; in some places of a blue
color and almost transparent, and in others of a dark and sombre hue;
and so it changed until it threw itself into a warm, far-spreading sea.
But it was quite otherwise with the little town. As far back as anybody
could remember, it had always been the same that it was at the time
of our story; and the people who lived there could see no reason to
suppose that it would ever be different from what it was then. It was
a pleasant little town, its citizens were very happy; and why there
should be any change in it, the most astute old man in all Rondaine
could not have told you.
[Illustration: ARLA AND THE SACRISTAN.]
If Rondaine had been famed for anything at all, it would have been for
the number of its clocks. It had many churches, some little ones in
dark side streets, and some larger ones in wider avenues, besides here
and there a very good-sized church fronting on a park or open square;
and in the steeple of each of these churches there was a clock.
There were town buildings, very old ones, which stood upon the great
central square. Each of these had a tower, and in each tower was a
clock.
Then there were clocks at street corners, and two clocks in the
market-place, and clocks over shop-doors, a clock at each end of the
bridge, and several large clocks a little way out of town. Many of
these clocks were fashioned in some quaint and curious way. In one of
the largest a stone man came out and struck the hours with a stone
hammer, while a stone woman struck the half-hours with a stone broom;
and in another an iron donkey kicked the hours on a bell behind him.
It would be impossible to tell all the odd ways in which the clocks
of Rondaine struck; but in one respect they were alike: they all did
strike. The good people of the town would not have tolerated a clock
which did not strike.
It was very interesting to lie awake in the night and hear the clocks
of Rondaine strike. First would come a faint striking from one of
the churches in the by-streets, a modest sound, as if the clock was
not sure whether it was too early or not; then from another quarter
would be heard a more confident clock striking the hour clearly and
distinctly.
When they were quite ready, but not a moment before, the seven bells
of the large church on the square would chime the hour; after which,
at a respectful interval of time, the other church clocks of the town
would strike. After the lapse of three or four minutes, the sound of
all these bells seemed to wake up the stone man in the tower of the
town-building, and he struck the hour with his hammer. When this had
been done, the other town-clocks felt at liberty to strike, and they
did so. And when every sound had died away, so that he would be certain
to be heard if there was anyone awake to hear, it would be very likely
that the iron donkey would kick out the hour on his bell. But there
were times when he kicked before any of the clocks began to strike.
One by one the clocks on the street corners struck, the uptown ones
first, and afterward those near the river. These were followed by the
two clocks on the bridge, the one at the country end waiting until it
was quite sure that the one at the town end had finished. Somewhat
later would be heard the clock of Vougereau, an old country-house
in the suburbs. This clock, a very large one, was on the top of a
great square stone tower, and from its age it had acquired a habit of
deliberation; and when it began to strike people were very apt to think
that it was one o’clock, until after an interval another stroke would
tell them that it was later or earlier than that, and if they really
wanted to know what hour the old clock was striking they must give
themselves time enough to listen until they were entirely certain that
it had finished.
The very last clock to strike in Rondaine was one belonging to a
little old lady with white hair, who lived in a little white house in
one of the prettiest and cleanest streets in the town. Her clock was
in a little white tower at the corner of her house, and was the only
strictly private clock which was in the habit of making itself publicly
heard. Long after every other clock had struck, and when there was
every reason to believe that for some time nothing but half-hours would
be heard in Rondaine, the old lady’s clock would strike quickly and
with a tone that said, “I know I am right, and I wish other people to
know it.”
In a small house which stood at a corner of two streets in the town
there lived a young girl named Arla. For a year or more this young girl
had been in the habit of waking up very early in the morning, sometimes
long before daylight, and it had become a habit with her to lie and
listen to the clocks. Her room was at the top of the house, and one of
its windows opened to the west and another to the south, so that sounds
entered from different quarters. Arla liked to leave these windows open
so that the sounds of the clocks might come in.
Arla knew every clock by its tone, and she always made it a point
to lie awake until she was positively sure that the last stroke of
the clock at Vougereau had sounded; but it often happened that sleep
overcame her before she heard the clock of the little old lady with
white hair. It was so very long to wait for that!
It was not because she wanted to know the hour that Arla used to lie
and listen to the clocks. She could tell this from her own little
clock in her room. This little clock, which had been given to her when
she was a small girl, not only struck the hours and half-hours and
quarter-hours, but there was attached to it a very pretty contrivance
which also told the time. On the front of the clock, just below the
dial, was a sprig of a rosebush beautifully made of metal, and on this,
just after the hour had sounded, there was a large green bud; at a
quarter past the hour this bud opened a little, so that the red petals
could be seen; fifteen minutes later it was a half-blown rose, and at
a quarter of an hour more it was nearly full blown; just before the
hour the rose opened to its fullest extent, and so remained until the
clock had finished striking, when it immediately shut up into a great
green bud. This clock was a great delight to Arla; for not only was it
a very pleasant thing to watch the unfolding of the rose, but it was
a continual satisfaction to her to think that her little clock always
told her exactly what time it was, no matter what the other clocks of
Rondaine might say.
Arla’s father and mother were thrifty, industrious people, who were
very fond of their daughter, and wished her to grow up a thoughtful,
useful woman. In the very early morning, listening to the clocks of
Rondaine or waiting for them, Arla did a great deal of thinking; and it
so happened, on the morning of the day before Christmas, when the stars
were bright and the air frosty, and every outside sound very clear and
distinct, that Arla began to think of something which had never entered
her mind before.
“How in the world,” she said to herself, “do the people of Rondaine
know when it is really Christmas? Christmas begins as soon as it is
twelve o’clock on Christmas Eve; but as some of the people depend for
the time upon one clock and some upon others, a great many of them
cannot truly know when Christmas Day has really begun. Even some of
the church clocks make people think that Christmas has come, when in
reality it is yet the day before. And not one of them strikes at the
right time. As for that iron donkey, I believe he kicks whenever he
feels like it. And yet there are people who go by him! I know this, for
they have told me so. But the little old lady with white hair is worse
off than anybody else. Christmas must always come ever so long before
she knows it.”
With these thoughts on her mind, Arla could not go to sleep again. She
heard all the clocks strike, and lay awake until her own little clock
told her that she ought to get up. During this time she had made up her
mind what she should do. There was yet one day before Christmas; and
if the people of the town could be made to see in what a deplorable
condition they were on account of the difference in their clocks,
they might have time to set the matter right so that all the clocks
should strike the correct hour, and everybody should know exactly when
Christmas Day began. She was sure that the citizens had never given
this matter proper thought; and it was quite natural that such should
be the case, for it was not everyone who was in the habit of lying
awake in the very early morning; and in the daytime, with all the
out-door noises, one could not hear all the clocks strike in Rondaine.
Arla, therefore, thought that a great deal depended upon her, who knew
exactly how this matter stood.
When she went down to breakfast she asked permission of her mother
to take a day’s holiday. As she was a good girl, and never neglected
either her lessons or her tasks, her mother was quite willing to give
her the day before Christmas in which she could do as she pleased.
The day was cool, but the sun shone brightly and the air was pleasant.
In the country around about Rondaine Christmas-time was not a very cold
season. Arla put on a warm jacket and a pretty blue hood, and started
out gayly to attend to the business in hand.
Everybody in Rondaine knew her father and mother, and a great many of
them knew her, so there was no reason why she should be afraid to go
where she chose. In one hand she carried a small covered basket in
which she had placed her rose-clock. The works of this little clock
were regulated by a balance-wheel, like those of a watch, and therefore
it could be carried about without stopping it.
The first place she visited was the church at which she and her parents
always attended service. It was a small building in a little square
at the bottom of a hill, and, to reach it, one had to go down a long
flight of stone steps. When she entered the dimly lighted church, Arla
soon saw the sacristan, a pleasant-faced little old man whom she knew
very well.
“Good-morning, sir,” said she. “Do you take care of the church clock?”
The sacristan was sweeping the stone pavements of the church, just
inside the door. He stopped and leaned upon his broom. “Yes, my little
friend,” he said, “I take care of everything here except the souls of
the people.”
“Well, then,” said Arla, “I think you ought to know that your clock is
eleven minutes too fast. I came here to tell you that, so that you
might change it, and make it strike properly.”
The sacristan’s eyes began to twinkle. He was a man of merry mood.
“That is very good of you, little Arla; very good indeed. And, now that
we are about it, isn’t there something else you would like to change?
What do you say to having these stone pillars put to one side, so that
they may be out of the way of the people when they come in? Or those
great beams in the roof--they might be turned over, and perhaps we
might find that the upper side would look fresher than this lower part,
which is somewhat time-stained, as you see? Or, for the matter of that,
what do you say to having our clock-tower taken down and set out there
in the square before the church-door? Then short-sighted people could
see the time much better, don’t you think? Now tell me, shall we do all
these things together, wise little friend?”
A tear or two came into Arla’s eyes, but she made no answer.
“Good-morning, sir,” she said, and went away.
“I suppose,” she said to herself as she ran up the stone steps, “that
he thought it would be too much trouble to climb to the top of the
tower to set the clock right. But that was no reason why he should make
fun of me. I don’t like him as much as I used to.”
The next church to which Arla went was a large one, and it was some
time before she could find the sacristan. At last she saw him in a
side chapel at the upper end of the church, engaged in dusting some
old books. He was a large man, with a red face, and he turned around
quickly, with a stern expression, as she entered.
“Please, sir,” said Arla, “I came to tell you that your church clock
is wrong. It strikes from four to six minutes before it ought to;
sometimes the one and sometimes the other. It should be changed so that
it will be sure to strike at the right time.”
The face of the sacristan grew redder and twitched visibly at her
remark.
“Do you know what I wish?” he almost shouted in reply.
“No, sir,” answered Arla.
“I wish,” he said, “that you were a boy, so that I might take you by
the collar and soundly cuff your ears, for coming here to insult an
officer of the church in the midst of his duties! But, as you are
a girl, I can only tell you to go away from here as rapidly and as
quietly as you can, or I shall have to put you in the hands of the
church authorities!”
Arla was truly frightened, and although she did not run--for she knew
that would not be proper in a church--she walked as fast as she could
into the outer air.
“What a bad man,” she then said to herself, “to be employed in a
church! It surely is not known what sort of a person he is, or he would
not be allowed to stay there a day!”
Arla thought she would not go to any more churches at present, for she
did not know what sort of sacristans she might find in them.
“When the other clocks in the town all strike properly,” she thought,
“it is most likely they will see for themselves that their clocks are
wrong, and they will have them changed.”
She now made her way to the great square of the town, and entered the
building at the top of which stood the stone man with his hammer. She
found the doorkeeper in a little room by the side of the entrance.
She knew where to go, for she had been there with her mother to ask
permission to go up and see the stone man strike the hour with his
hammer, and the stone woman strike the half-hour with her broom.
The doorkeeper was a grave, middle-aged man with spectacles; and,
remembering what had just happened, Arla thought she would be careful
how she spoke to him.
“If you please, sir,” she said, with a courtesy, “I should like to say
something to you. And I hope you will not be offended when I tell you
that your clock is not quite right. Your stone man and your stone woman
are both too slow; they sometimes strike as much as seven minutes after
they ought to strike.”
The grave, middle-aged man looked steadily at her through his
spectacles.
“I thought,” continued Arla, “that if this should be made known to you,
you would have the works of the stone man and the stone woman altered
so that they might strike at the right time. They can be heard so far,
you know, that it is very necessary they should not make mistakes.”
“Child,” said the man, with his spectacles still steadily fixed on her,
“for one hundred and fifty-seven years the open tower on this building
has stood there. For one hundred and fifty-seven years the thunder and
the lightning in time of storm have roared and flashed around it, and
the sun in time of fair weather has shone upon it. In that century and
a half and seven years men and women have lived and have died, and
their children and their grandchildren and their great-grandchildren,
and even the children of these, have lived and died after them. Kings
and queens have passed away, one after another; and all things living
have grown old and died, one generation after another, many times.
And yet, through all these years, that stone man and that stone woman
have stood there, and in storm and in fair weather, by daylight or in
the darkness of night, they have struck the hours and the half-hours.
Of all things that one hundred and fifty-seven years ago were able to
lift an arm to strike, they alone are left. And now you, a child of
thirteen, or perhaps fourteen years, come to me and ask me to change
that which has not been changed for a century and a half and seven
years!”
Arla could answer nothing with those spectacles fixed upon her. They
seemed to glare more and more as she looked at them. “Good-morning,
sir,” she said, dropping a courtesy as she moved backward toward the
door. Reaching it, she turned and hurried into the street.
“If those stone people,” she thought, “have not been altered in all
these years, it is likely they would now be striking two or three hours
out of the way! But I don’t know. If they kept on going slow for more
than a century, they must have come around to the right hour sometimes.
But they will have to strike ever and ever so much longer before they
come around there again!”
Arla now walked on until she came to a street corner where a cobbler
had a little shop. In the angle of the wall of the house, at the
height of the second story, was a clock. This cobbler did not like
the confined air and poor light of his shop, and whenever the weather
allowed he always worked outside on the sidewalk. To-day, although it
was winter, the sun shone brightly on this side of the street, and he
had put his bench outside, close to his door, and was sitting there,
hard at work. When Arla stopped before him he looked up and said,
cheerfully:
“Good-morning, Mistress Arla. Do you want them half-soled, or heeled,
or a patch put on the toes?”
“My shoes do not need mending,” said Arla. “I came to ask you if you
could tell me who has charge of the clock at this corner?”
“I can easily do that,” he said, “for I am the man. I am paid by the
year, for winding it up and keeping it in order, as much as I should
get for putting the soles, heels, tops, linings, and buckles on a pair
of shoes.”
“Which means making them out and out,” said Arla.
“You are right,” said he, “and the pay is not great; but if it were
larger, more people might want it and I might lose it; and if it were
less, how could I afford to do it at all? So I am satisfied.”
“But you ought not to be entirely satisfied,” said Arla, “for the
clock does not keep good time. I know when it is striking, for it has
a very jangling sound, and it is the most irregular clock in Rondaine.
Sometimes it strikes as much as twenty-five minutes after the hour, and
very often it does not strike at all.”
The cobbler looked up at her with a smile. “I am sorry,” he said, “that
it has a jangling stroke, but the fashioning of clocks is not my trade,
and I could not mend its sound with awl, hammer, or waxed-end. But it
seems to me, my good maiden, that you never mended a pair of shoes.”
“No, indeed!” said Arla; “I should do that even worse than you would
make clocks.”
“Never having mended shoes, then,” said the cobbler, “you do not know
what a grievous thing it is to have twelve o’clock, or six o’clock, or
any other hour, in fact, come before you are ready for it. Now, I don’t
mind telling you, because I know you are too good to spoil the trade of
a hard-working cobbler--and shoemaker too, whenever he gets the chance
to be one--that when I have promised a customer that he shall have his
shoes or his boots at a certain time of day, and that time is drawing
near, and the end of the job is still somewhat distant, then do I skip
up the stairway and set back the hands of the clock according to the
work that has to be done. And when my customer comes I look up to the
clock-face and I say to him, ‘Glad to see you!’ and then he will look
up at the clock and will say, ‘Yes, I am a little too soon;’ and then,
as likely as not, he will sit down on the doorstep here by me and
talk entertainingly; and it may happen that he will sit there without
grumbling for many minutes after the clock has pointed out the hour at
which the shoes were promised.
“Sometimes, when I have been much belated in beginning a job, I stop
the clock altogether, for you can well see for yourself that it would
not do to have it strike eleven when it is truly twelve. And so, if my
man be willing to sit down, and our talk be very entertaining, the
clock being above him where he cannot see it without stepping outward
from the house, he may not notice that it is stopped. This once served
me very well, for an old gentleman, over-testy and over-punctual, once
came to me for his shoes, and looking up at the clock, which I had
prepared for him, exclaimed, ‘Bless me! I am much too early!’ And he
sat down by me for three-quarters of an hour, in which time I persuaded
him that his shoes were far too much worn to be worth mending any more,
and that he should have a new pair, which, afterward, I made.”
“I do not believe it is right for you to do that,” said Arla; “but even
if you think so, there is no reason why your clock should go wrong at
night, when so many people can hear it because of the stillness.”
“Ah, me!” said the cobbler, “I do not object to the clock being as
right as you please in the night; but when my day’s work is done, I am
in such a hurry to go home to my supper that I often forget to put the
clock right, or to set it going if it is stopped. But so many things
stop at night--such as the day itself--and so many things then go
wrong--such as the ways of evil-minded people--that I think you truly
ought to pardon my poor clock.”
“Then you will not consent,” said Arla, “to make it go right?”
“I will do that with all cheerfulness,” answered the cobbler, pulling
out a pair of waxed-ends with a great jerk, “as soon as I can make
myself go right. The most important thing should always be done first;
and, surely, I am more important than a clock!” And he smiled with
great good-humor.
Arla knew that it would be of no use to stand there any longer and talk
with this cobbler. Turning to go, she said:
“When I bring you shoes to mend, you shall finish them by my clock, and
not by yours.”
“That will I, my good little Arla,” said the cobbler, heartily. “They
shall be finished by any clock in town, and five minutes before the
hour, or no payment.”
Arla now walked on until she came to the bridge over the river. It was
a long, covered bridge, and by the entrance sat the bridge-keeper.
“Do you know, sir,” said she, “that the clock at this end of your
bridge does not keep the same time as the one at the other end? They
are not so very different, but I have noticed that this one is always
done striking at least two minutes before the other begins.”
The bridge-keeper looked at her with one eye, which was all he had.
“You are as wrong as anybody can be,” said he. “I do not say anything
about the striking, because my ears are not now good enough to hear the
clock at the other end when I am near this one; but I know they both
keep the same time. I have often looked at this clock and have then
walked to the other end of the bridge, and have found that the clock
there was exactly like it.”
Arla looked at the poor old man, whose legs were warmly swaddled on
account of his rheumatism, and said:
“But it must take you a good while to walk to the other end of the
bridge.”
“Out upon you!” cried the bridge-keeper. “I am not so old as that yet!
I can walk there in no time!”
Arla now crossed the bridge and went a short distance along a country
road until she came to the great stone house known as Vougereau. This
belonged to a rich family who seldom came there, and the place was in
charge of an elderly man who was the brother of Arla’s mother. When his
niece was shown into a room on the ground floor, which served for his
parlor and his office, he was very glad to see her; and while Arla
was having something to eat and drink after her walk, the two had a
pleasant chat.
“I came this time, Uncle Anton,” she said, “not only to see you, but to
tell you that the great clock in your tower does not keep good time.”
Uncle Anton looked at her a little surprised.
“How do you know that, my dear?” he said.
Then Arla told him how she had lain awake in the early morning, and had
heard the striking of the different clocks. “If you wish to make it
right,” said she, “I can give you the proper time, for I have brought
my own little clock with me.”
She was about to take her rose-clock out of her basket, when her uncle
motioned to her not to do so.
“Let me tell you something,” said he. “The altering of the time of day,
which you speak of so lightly, is a very serious matter, which should
be considered with all gravity. If you set back a clock, even as little
as ten minutes, you add that much to the time that has passed. The
hour which has just gone by has been made seventy minutes long. Now,
no human being has the right to add anything to the past, nor to make
hours longer than they were originally made. And, on the other hand,
if you set a clock forward even so little as ten minutes, you take away
that much from the future, and you make the coming hour only fifty
minutes long. Now, no human being has a right to take anything away
from the future, or to make the hours shorter than they were intended
to be. I desire, my dear niece, that you will earnestly think over what
I have said, and I am sure that you will then see for yourself how
unwise it would be to trifle with the length of the hours which make up
our day. And now, Arla, let us talk of other things.”
And so they talked of other things until Arla thought it was time
to go. She saw there was something wrong in her uncle’s reasoning,
although she could not tell exactly what it was, and thinking about it,
she slowly returned to the town. As she approached the house of the
little old lady with white hair, she concluded to stop and speak to her
about her clock. “She will surely be willing to alter that,” said Arla,
“for it is so very much out of the way.”
The old lady knew who Arla was, and received her very kindly; but when
she heard why the young girl had come to her, she flew into a passion.
“Never, since I was born,” she said “have I been spoken to like this!
My great-grandfather lived in this house before me; that clock was good
enough for him! My grandfather lived in this house before me; that
clock was good enough for him! My father and mother lived in this house
before me; that clock was good enough for them! I was born in this
house, have always lived in it, and expect to die in it; that clock is
good enough for me! I heard its strokes when I was but a little child,
I hope to hear them at my last hour; and sooner than raise my hand
against the clock of my ancestors, and the clock of my whole life, I
would cut off that hand!”
Some tears came into Arla’s eyes; she was a little frightened. “I hope
you will pardon me, good madam,” she said, “for, truly, I did not wish
to offend you. Nor did I think that your clock is not a good one. I
only meant that you should make it better; it is nearly an hour out of
the way.”
The sight of Arla’s tears cooled the anger of the little old lady with
white hair. “Child,” she said, “you do not know what you are talking
about, and I forgive you. But remember this: never ask persons as old
as I am to alter the principles which have always made clear to them
what they should do, or the clocks which have always told them when
they should do it.”
And, kissing Arla, she bade her good-by.
“Principles may last a great while without altering,” thought Arla, as
she went away, “but I am sure it is very different with clocks.”
The poor girl now felt a good deal discouraged.
“The people don’t seem to care whether their clocks are right or not,”
she said to herself, “and if they don’t care, I am sure it is of no
use for me to tell them about it. If even one clock could be made to
go properly, it might help to make the people of Rondaine care to know
exactly what time it is. Now, there is that iron donkey. If he would
but kick at the right hour it would be an excellent thing, for he kicks
so hard that he is heard all over the town.”
Determined to make this one more effort, Arla walked quickly to the
town-building, at the top of which was the clock with the iron donkey.
This building was a sort of museum; it had a great many curious things
in it, and it was in charge of a very ingenious man, who was learned
and skilful in various ways.
When Arla had informed the superintendent of the museum why she had
come to him, he did not laugh at her nor did he get angry. He was
accustomed to giving earnest consideration to matters of this sort, and
he listened attentively to all that Arla had to say.
“You must know,” he said, “that our iron donkey is a very complicated
piece of mechanism. Not only must he kick out the hours, but five
minutes before doing so he must turn his head around and look at the
bell behind him; and then, when he has done kicking, he must put his
head back into its former position. All this action requires a great
many wheels and cogs and springs and levers, and these cannot be
made to move with absolute regularity. When it is cold, some of his
works contract; and when it is warm, they expand; and there are other
reasons why he is very likely to lose or gain time. At noon, on every
bright day, I set him right, being able to get the correct time from
a sun-dial which stands in the court-yard. But his works--which I am
sorry to say are not well made--are sure to get a great deal out of the
way before I set him again.”
“Then, if there are several cloudy or rainy days together, he goes very
wrong indeed,” said Arla.
“Yes, he truly does,” replied the superintendent, “and I am sorry for
it. But there is no way to help it except for me to make him all over
again at my own expense, and that is something I cannot afford to do.
The clock belongs to the town, and I am sure the citizens will not be
willing to spend the money necessary for a new donkey-clock; for, so
far as I know, every person but yourself is perfectly satisfied with
this one.”
“I suppose so,” said Arla, with a sigh; “but it really is a great pity
that every striking-clock in Rondaine should be wrong!”
“But how do you know they are all wrong?” asked the superintendent.
“Oh, that is easy enough,” said Arla. “When I lie awake in the early
morning, when all else is very still, I listen to their striking, and
then I look at my own rose-clock to see what time it really is.”
“Your rose-clock?” said the superintendent.
“This is it,” said Arla, opening her basket and taking out her little
clock.
The superintendent took it into his hands and looked at it attentively,
both outside and inside. And then, still holding it, he stepped out
into the court-yard. When in a few moments he returned, he said:
“I have compared your clock with my sun-dial, and find that it is ten
minutes slow. I also see that, like the donkey-clock, its works are not
adjusted in such a way as to be unaffected by heat and cold.”
“My--clock--ten--minutes--slow!” exclaimed Arla, with wide-open eyes.
“Yes,” said the superintendent, “that is the case to-day, and on
some days it is, probably, a great deal too fast. Such a clock as
this--which is a very ingenious and beautiful one--ought frequently to
be compared with a sun-dial or other correct time-keeper, and set to
the proper hour. I see it requires a peculiar key with which to set it.
Have you brought this with you?”
“No, sir,” said Arla; “I did not suppose it would be needed.”
“Well, then,” said the superintendent, “you can set it forward ten
minutes when you reach home; and if to-morrow morning you compare the
other clocks with it, I think you will find that not all of them are
wrong.”
Arla sat quiet for a moment, and then she said: “I think I shall
not care any more to compare the clocks of Rondaine with my little
rose-clock. If the people are satisfied with their own clocks, whether
they are fast or slow, and do not care to know exactly when Christmas
Day begins, I can do nobody any good by listening to the different
strikings and then looking at my own little clock, with a night-lamp by
it.”
“Especially,” said the superintendent, with a smile, “when you are not
sure that your rose-clock is right. But if you bring here your little
clock and your key on any day when the sun is shining, I will set it to
the time shadowed on the sun-dial, or show you how to do it yourself.”
“Thank you very much,” said Arla, and she took her leave.
As she walked home, she lifted the lid of her basket and looked at
her little rose-clock. “To think of it!” she said. “That you should
be sometimes too fast and sometimes too slow! And, worse than that,
to think that some of the other clocks have been right and you have
been wrong! But I do not feel like altering you to-day. If you go fast
sometimes, and slow sometimes, you must be right sometimes, and one of
these days, when I take you to be compared with the sun-dial, perhaps
you will not have to be altered so much.”
Arla went to bed that night quite tired with her long walks, and when
she awoke it was broad daylight. “I do not know,” she said to herself,
“exactly when Christmas began, but I am very sure that the happy day is
here.”
“Do you lie awake in the morning as much as you used to?” asked Arla’s
mother, a few weeks after the Christmas holidays.
“No, mother dear,” said Arla; “I now sleep with one of my windows shut,
and I am no longer awakened by that chilly feeling which used to come
to me in the early morning, when I would draw the bed-covers close
about me and think how wrong were the clocks of Rondaine.”
And the little rose-clock never went to be compared with the sun-dial.
“Perhaps you are right now,” Arla would say to her clock each day when
the sun shone, “and I will not take you until some time when I feel
very sure that you are wrong.”
THE GRIFFIN AND THE MINOR CANON
Over the great door of an old, old church which stood in a quiet town
of a far-away land there was carved in stone the figure of a large
griffin. The old-time sculptor had done his work with great care, but
the image he had made was not a pleasant one to look at. It had a large
head, with enormous open mouth and savage teeth; from its back arose
great wings, armed with sharp hooks and prongs; it had stout legs in
front, with projecting claws; but there were no legs behind,--the body
running out into a long and powerful tail, finished off at the end with
a barbed point. This tail was coiled up under him, the end sticking up
just back of his wings.
The sculptor, or the people who had ordered this stone figure, had
evidently been very much pleased with it, for little copies of it, also
in stone, had been placed here and there along the sides of the church,
not very far from the ground, so that people could easily look at
them, and ponder on their curious forms. There were a great many other
sculptures on the outside of this church--saints, martyrs, grotesque
heads of men, beasts, and birds, as well as those of other creatures
which cannot be named, because nobody knows exactly what they were;
but none were so curious and interesting as the great griffin over the
door, and the little griffins on the sides of the church.
A long, long distance from the town, in the midst of dreadful wilds
scarcely known to man, there dwelt the Griffin whose image had been put
up over the church-door. In some way or other, the old-time sculptor
had seen him and afterward, to the best of his memory, had copied his
figure in stone.
The Griffin had never known this, until, hundreds of years afterward,
he heard from a bird, from a wild animal, or in some manner which it is
not now easy to find out, that there was a likeness of him on the old
church in the distant town.
Now, this Griffin had no idea how he looked. He had never seen a
mirror, and the streams where he lived were so turbulent and violent
that a quiet piece of water, which would reflect the image of any thing
looking into it, could not be found. Being, as far as could be known,
the very last of his race, he had never seen another griffin. Therefore
it was that, when he heard of this stone image of himself, he became
very anxious to know what he looked like, and at last he determined to
go to the old church, and see for himself what manner of being he was.
So he started off from the dreadful wilds, and flew on and on until
he came to the countries inhabited by men, where his appearance in
the air created great consternation; but he alighted nowhere, keeping
up a steady flight until he reached the suburbs of the town which had
his image on its church. Here, late in the afternoon, he alighted in a
green meadow by the side of a brook, and stretched himself on the grass
to rest. His great wings were tired, for he had not made such a long
flight in a century, or more.
The news of his coming spread quickly over the town, and the people,
frightened nearly out of their wits by the arrival of so strange a
visitor, fled into their houses, and shut themselves up. The Griffin
called loudly for some one to come to him; but the more he called, the
more afraid the people were to show themselves. At length he saw two
laborers hurrying to their homes through the fields, and in a terrible
voice he commanded them to stop. Not daring to disobey, the men stood,
trembling.
“What is the matter with you all?” cried the Griffin. “Is there not a
man in your town who is brave enough to speak to me?”
“I think,” said one of the laborers, his voice shaking so that
his words could hardly be understood, “that--perhaps--the Minor
Canon--would come.”
“Go, call him, then!” said the Griffin; “I want to see him.”
The Minor Canon, who was an assistant in the old church, had just
finished the afternoon services, and was coming out of a side door,
with three aged women who had formed the week-day congregation. He
was a young man of a kind disposition, and very anxious to do good to
the people of the town. Apart from his duties in the church, where he
conducted services every week-day, he visited the sick and the poor,
counselled and assisted persons who were in trouble, and taught a
school composed entirely of the bad children in the town with whom
nobody else would have anything to do. Whenever the people wanted
something difficult done for them, they always went to the Minor
Canon. Thus it was that the laborer thought of the young priest when he
found that someone must come and speak to the Griffin.
The Minor Canon had not heard of the strange event, which was known to
the whole town except himself and the three old women, and when he was
informed of it, and was told that the Griffin had asked to see him, he
was greatly amazed and frightened.
“Me!” he exclaimed. “He has never heard of me! What should he want with
_me_?”
“Oh! you must go instantly!” cried the two men. “He is very angry now
because he has been kept waiting so long; and nobody knows what may
happen if you don’t hurry to him.”
The poor Minor Canon would rather have had his hand cut off than go
out to meet an angry Griffin; but he felt that it was his duty to go,
for it would be a woful thing if injury should come to the people of
the town because he was not brave enough to obey the summons of the
Griffin. So, pale and frightened, he started off.
“Well,” said the Griffin, as soon as the young man came near, “I am
glad to see that there is someone who has the courage to come to me.”
The Minor Canon did not feel very brave, but he bowed his head.
“Is this the town,” said the Griffin, “where there is a church with a
likeness of myself over one of the doors?”
The Minor Canon looked at the frightful creature before him and saw
that it was, without doubt, exactly like the stone image on the church.
“Yes,” he said, “you are right.”
“Well, then,” said the Griffin, “will you take me to it? I wish very
much to see it.”
The Minor Canon instantly thought that if the Griffin entered the town
without the people’s knowing what he came for, some of them would
probably be frightened to death, and so he sought to gain time to
prepare their minds.
“It is growing dark, now,” he said, very much afraid, as he spoke, that
his words might enrage the Griffin, “and objects on the front of the
church cannot be seen clearly. It will be better to wait until morning,
if you wish to get a good view of the stone image of yourself.”
“That will suit me very well,” said the Griffin. “I see you are a man
of good sense. I am tired, and I will take a nap here on this soft
grass, while I cool my tail in the little stream that runs near me.
The end of my tail gets red-hot when I am angry or excited, and it is
quite warm now. So you may go; but be sure and come early to-morrow
morning, and show me the way to the church.”
The Minor Canon was glad enough to take his leave, and hurried into the
town. In front of the church he found a great many people assembled to
hear his report of his talk with the Griffin. When they found that he
had not come to spread ruin, but simply to see his stony likeness on
the church, they showed neither relief nor gratification, but began to
upbraid the Minor Canon for consenting to conduct the creature into the
town.
“What could I do?” cried the young man. “If I should not bring him he
would come himself and, perhaps, end by setting fire to the town with
his red-hot tail.”
Still the people were not satisfied, and a great many plans were
proposed to prevent the Griffin from coming into the town. Some elderly
persons urged that the young men should go out and kill him; but the
young men scoffed at such a ridiculous idea.
Then someone said that it would be a good thing to destroy the stone
image so that the Griffin would have no excuse for entering the town;
and this plan was received with such favor that many of the people
ran for hammers, chisels, and crowbars, with which to tear down and
break up the stone griffin. But the Minor Canon resisted this plan
with all the strength of his mind and body. He assured the people that
this action would enrage the Griffin beyond measure, for it would be
impossible to conceal from him that his image had been destroyed during
the night. But the people were so determined to break up the stone
griffin that the Minor Canon saw that there was nothing for him to do
but to stay there and protect it. All night he walked up and down in
front of the church-door, keeping away the men who brought ladders,
by which they might mount to the great stone griffin, and knock it to
pieces with their hammers and crowbars. After many hours the people
were obliged to give up their attempts, and went home to sleep; but
the Minor Canon remained at his post till early morning, and then he
hurried away to the field where he had left the Griffin.
The monster had just awakened, and rising to his forelegs and shaking
himself he said that he was ready to go into the town. The Minor Canon,
therefore, walked back, the Griffin flying slowly through the air, at a
short distance above the head of his guide. Not a person was to be seen
in the streets, and they went directly to the front of the church,
where the Minor Canon pointed out the stone griffin.
The real Griffin settled down in the little square before the church
and gazed earnestly at his sculptured likeness. For a long time he
looked at it. First he put his head on one side, and then he put it on
the other; then he shut his right eye and gazed with his left, after
which he shut his left eye and gazed with his right. Then he moved a
little to one side and looked at the image, then he moved the other
way. After a while he said to the Minor Canon, who had been standing by
all this time:
“It is, it must be, an excellent likeness! That breadth between the
eyes, that expansive forehead, those massive jaws! I feel that it must
resemble me. If there is any fault to find with it, it is that the
neck seems a little stiff. But that is nothing. It is an admirable
likeness--admirable!”
The Griffin sat looking at his image all the morning and all the
afternoon. The Minor Canon had been afraid to go away and leave him,
and had hoped all through the day that he would soon be satisfied with
his inspection and fly away home. But by evening the poor young man was
very tired, and felt that he must eat and sleep. He frankly said this
to the Griffin, and asked him if he would not like something to eat. He
said this because he felt obliged in politeness to do so; but as soon
as he had spoken the words, he was seized with dread lest the monster
should demand half a dozen babies, or some tempting repast of that kind.
“Oh, no,” said the Griffin; “I never eat between the equinoxes. At the
vernal and at the autumnal equinox I take a good meal, and that lasts
me for half a year. I am extremely regular in my habits, and do not
think it healthful to eat at odd times. But if you need food, go and
get it, and I will return to the soft grass where I slept last night
and take another nap.”
The next day the Griffin came again to the little square before the
church, and remained there until evening, steadfastly regarding the
stone griffin over the door. The Minor Canon came once or twice to look
at him, and the Griffin seemed very glad to see him; but the young
clergyman could not stay as he had done before, for he had many duties
to perform. Nobody went to the church, but the people came to the Minor
Canon’s house, and anxiously asked him how long the Griffin was going
to stay.
“I do not know,” he answered, “but I think he will soon be satisfied
with regarding his stone likeness, and then he will go away.”
But the Griffin did not go away. Morning after morning he came to the
church; but after a time he did not stay there all day. He seemed to
have taken a great fancy to the Minor Canon, and followed him about
as he worked. He would wait for him at the side door of the church,
for the Minor Canon held services every day, morning and evening,
though nobody came now. “If anyone should come,” he said to himself,
“I must be found at my post.” When the young man came out, the Griffin
would accompany him in his visits to the sick and the poor, and would
often look into the windows of the school-house where the Minor Canon
was teaching his unruly scholars. All the other schools were closed,
but the parents of the Minor Canon’s scholars forced them to go to
school, because they were so bad they could not endure them all day at
home--Griffin or no Griffin. But it must be said they generally behaved
very well when that great monster sat up on his tail and looked in at
the school-room window.
When it was found that the Griffin showed no sign of going away, all
the people who were able to do so left the town. The canons and the
higher officers of the church had fled away during the first day of the
Griffin’s visit, leaving behind only the Minor Canon and some of the
men who opened the doors and swept the church. All the citizens who
could afford it shut up their houses and travelled to distant parts,
and only the working-people and the poor were left behind. After some
days these ventured to go about and attend to their business, for if
they did not work they would starve. They were getting a little used to
seeing the Griffin; and having been told that he did not eat between
equinoxes, they did not feel so much afraid of him as before.
Day by day the Griffin became more and more attached to the Minor
Canon. He kept near him a great part of the time, and often spent the
night in front of the little house where the young clergyman lived
alone. This strange companionship was often burdensome to the Minor
Canon; but, on the other hand, he could not deny that he derived a
great deal of benefit and instruction from it. The Griffin had lived
for hundreds of years, and had seen much, and he told the Minor Canon
many wonderful things.
“It is like reading an old book,” said the young clergyman to himself;
“but how many books I would have had to read before I would have found
out what the Griffin has told me about the earth, the air, the water,
about minerals, and metals, and growing things, and all the wonders of
the world!”
Thus the summer went on, and drew toward its close. And now the people
of the town began to be very much troubled again.
“It will not be long,” they said, “before the autumnal equinox is here,
and then that monster will want to eat. He will be dreadfully hungry,
for he has taken so much exercise since his last meal. He will devour
our children. Without doubt, he will eat them all. What is to be done?”
To this question no one could give an answer, but all agreed that the
Griffin must not be allowed to remain until the approaching equinox.
After talking over the matter a great deal, a crowd of the people went
to the Minor Canon at a time when the Griffin was not with him.
“It is all your fault,” they said, “that that monster is among us. You
brought him here, and you ought to see that he goes away. It is only
on your account that he stays here at all; for, although he visits his
image every day, he is with you the greater part of the time. If you
were not here, he would not stay. It is your duty to go away, and then
he will follow you, and we shall be free from the dreadful danger which
hangs over us.”
“Go away!” cried the Minor Canon, greatly grieved at being spoken to in
such a way. “Where shall I go? If I go to some other town, shall I not
take this trouble there? Have I a right to do that?”
“No,” said the people, “you must not go to any other town. There is
no town far enough away. You must go to the dreadful wilds where the
Griffin lives; and then he will follow you and stay there.”
They did not say whether or not they expected the Minor Canon to stay
there also, and he did not ask them anything about it. He bowed his
head, and went into his house to think. The more he thought, the more
clear it became to his mind that it was his duty to go away, and thus
free the town from the presence of the Griffin.
That evening he packed a leathern bag full of bread and meat, and early
the next morning he set out on his journey to the dreadful wilds. It
was a long, weary, and doleful journey, especially after he had gone
beyond the habitations of men; but the Minor Canon kept on bravely, and
never faltered.
The way was longer than he had expected, and his provisions soon grew
so scanty that he was obliged to eat but a little every day; but he
kept up his courage, and pressed on, and, after many days of toilsome
travel, he reached the dreadful wilds.
When the Griffin found that the Minor Canon had left the town he
seemed sorry, but showed no desire to go and look for him. After a few
days had passed he became much annoyed, and asked some of the people
where the Minor Canon had gone. But, although the citizens had been
so anxious that the young clergyman should go to the dreadful wilds,
thinking that the Griffin would immediately follow him, they were
now afraid to mention the Minor Canon’s destination, for the monster
seemed angry already, and if he should suspect their trick he would,
doubtless, become very much enraged. So everyone said he did not know,
and the Griffin wandered about disconsolate. One morning he looked into
the Minor Canon’s school-house, which was always empty now, and thought
that it was a shame that everything should suffer on account of the
young man’s absence.
“It does not matter so much about the church,” he said, “for nobody
went there; but it is a pity about the school. I think I will teach it
myself until he returns.”
It was the hour for opening the school, and the Griffin went inside and
pulled the rope which rang the school-bell. Some of the children who
heard the bell ran in to see what was the matter, supposing it to be
a joke of one of their companions; but when they saw the Griffin they
stood astonished and scared.
“Go tell the other scholars,” said the monster, “that school is about
to open, and that if they are not all here in ten minutes I shall come
after them.”
In seven minutes every scholar was in place.
Never was seen such an orderly school. Not a boy or girl moved or
uttered a whisper. The Griffin climbed into the master’s seat, his wide
wings spread on each side of him, because he could not lean back in his
chair while they stuck out behind, and his great tail coiled around, in
front of the desk, the barbed end sticking up, ready to tap any boy or
girl who might misbehave.
The Griffin now addressed the scholars, telling them that he intended
to teach them while their master was away. In speaking he tried
to imitate, as far as possible, the mild and gentle tones of the
Minor Canon; but it must be admitted that in this he was not very
successful. He had paid a good deal of attention to the studies of the
school, and he determined not to try to teach them anything new, but to
review them in what they had been studying; so he called up the various
classes, and questioned them upon their previous lessons. The children
racked their brains to remember what they had learned. They were so
afraid of the Griffin’s displeasure that they recited as they had never
recited before. One of the boys, far down in his class, answered so
well that the Griffin was astonished.
“I should think you would be at the head,” said he. “I am sure you have
never been in the habit of reciting so well. Why is this?”
“Because I did not choose to take the trouble,” said the boy, trembling
in his boots. He felt obliged to speak the truth, for all the children
thought that the great eyes of the Griffin could see right through
them, and that he would know when they told a falsehood.
“You ought to be ashamed of yourself,” said the Griffin. “Go down to
the very tail of the class; and if you are not at the head in two days,
I shall know the reason why.”
The next afternoon this boy was Number One.
It was astonishing how much these children now learned of what they
had been studying. It was as if they had been educated over again. The
Griffin used no severity toward them, but there was a look about him
which made them unwilling to go to bed until they were sure they knew
their lessons for the next day.
The Griffin now thought that he ought to visit the sick and the poor;
and he began to go about the town for this purpose. The effect upon
the sick was miraculous. All, except those who were very ill indeed,
jumped from their beds when they heard he was coming, and declared
themselves quite well. To those who could not get up he gave herbs and
roots, which none of them had ever before thought of as medicines, but
which the Griffin had seen used in various parts of the world; and most
of them recovered. But, for all that, they afterward said that, no
matter what happened to them, they hoped that they should never again
have such a doctor coming to their bedsides, feeling their pulses and
looking at their tongues.
As for the poor, they seemed to have utterly disappeared. All those
who had depended upon charity for their daily bread were now at work
in some way or other; many of them offering to do odd jobs for their
neighbors just for the sake of their meals--a thing which before had
been seldom heard of in the town. The Griffin could find no one who
needed his assistance.
The summer had now passed, and the autumnal equinox was rapidly
approaching. The citizens were in a state of great alarm and anxiety.
The Griffin showed no signs of going away, but seemed to have settled
himself permanently among them. In a short time the day for his
semi-annual meal would arrive, and then what would happen? The monster
would certainly be very hungry, and would devour all their children.
Now they greatly regretted and lamented that they had sent away the
Minor Canon; he was the only one on whom they could have depended in
this trouble, for he could talk freely with the Griffin, and so find
out what could be done. But it would not do to be inactive. Some step
must be taken immediately. A meeting of the citizens was called, and
two old men were appointed to go and talk to the Griffin. They were
instructed to offer to prepare a splendid dinner for him on equinox
day--one which would entirely satisfy his hunger. They would offer him
the fattest mutton, the most tender beef, fish, and game of various
sorts, and anything of the kind that he might fancy. If none of these
suited, they were to mention that there was an orphan asylum in the
next town.
“Anything would be better,” said the citizens, “than to have our dear
children devoured.”
The old men went to the Griffin; but their propositions were not
received with favor.
“From what I have seen of the people of this town,” said the monster,
“I do not think I could relish anything which was prepared by them.
They appear to be all cowards, and, therefore, mean and selfish. As for
eating one of them, old or young, I could not think of it for a moment.
In fact, there was only one creature in the whole place for whom I
could have had any appetite, and that is the Minor Canon, who has gone
away. He was brave, and good, and honest, and I think I should have
relished him.”
“Ah!” said one of the old men very politely, “in that case I wish we
had not sent him to the dreadful wilds!”
“What!” cried the Griffin. “What do you mean? Explain instantly what
you are talking about!”
The old man, terribly frightened at what he had said, was obliged to
tell how the Minor Canon had been sent away by the people, in the hope
that the Griffin might be induced to follow him.
When the monster heard this he became furiously angry. He dashed away
from the old men, and, spreading his wings, flew backward and forward
over the town. He was so much excited that his tail became red-hot, and
glowed like a meteor against the evening sky. When at last he settled
down in the little field where he usually rested, and thrust his tail
into the brook, the steam arose like a cloud, and the water of the
stream ran hot through the town. The citizens were greatly frightened,
and bitterly blamed the old man for telling about the Minor Canon.
“It is plain,” they said, “that the Griffin intended at last to go and
look for him, and we should have been saved. Now who can tell what
misery you have brought upon us.”
The Griffin did not remain long in the little field. As soon as his
tail was cool he flew to the town-hall and rang the bell. The citizens
knew that they were expected to come there; and although they were
afraid to go, they were still more afraid to stay away; and they
crowded into the hall. The Griffin was on the platform at one end,
flapping his wings and walking up and down, and the end of his tail was
still so warm that it slightly scorched the boards as he dragged it
after him.
When everybody who was able to come was there, the Griffin stood still
and addressed the meeting.
“I have had a very low opinion of you,” he said, “ever since I
discovered what cowards you are, but I had no idea that you were so
ungrateful, selfish, and cruel as I now find you to be. Here was your
Minor Canon, who labored day and night for your good, and thought of
nothing else but how he might benefit you and make you happy; and as
soon as you imagine yourselves threatened with a danger--for well I
know you are dreadfully afraid of me--you send him off, caring not
whether he returns or perishes, hoping thereby to save yourselves. Now,
I had conceived a great liking for that young man, and had intended, in
a day or two, to go and look him up. But I have changed my mind about
him. I shall go and find him, but I shall send him back here to live
among you, and I intend that he shall enjoy the reward of his labor and
his sacrifices.
“Go, some of you, to the officers of the church, who so cowardly ran
away when I first came here, and tell them never to return to this
town under penalty of death. And if, when your Minor Canon comes back
to you, you do not bow yourselves before him, put him in the highest
place among you, and serve and honor him all his life, beware of my
terrible vengeance! There were only two good things in this town: the
Minor Canon and the stone image of myself over your church-door. One of
these you have sent away, and the other I shall carry away myself.”
With these words he dismissed the meeting, and it was time, for the end
of his tail had become so hot that there was danger of its setting fire
to the building.
The next morning the Griffin came to the church, and tearing the
stone image of himself from its fastenings over the great door, he
grasped it with his powerful forelegs and flew up into the air. Then,
after hovering over the town for a moment, he gave his tail an angry
shake and took up his flight to the dreadful wilds. When he reached
this desolate region, he set the stone griffin upon a ledge of a rock
which rose in front of the dismal cave he called his home. There the
image occupied a position somewhat similar to that it had had over the
church-door; and the Griffin, panting with the exertion of carrying
such an enormous load to so great a distance, lay down upon the ground
and regarded it with much satisfaction. When he felt somewhat rested
he went to look for the Minor Canon. He found the young man, weak and
half-starved, lying under the shadow of a rock. After picking him
up and carrying him to his cave, the Griffin flew away to a distant
marsh, where he procured some roots and herbs which he well knew were
strengthening and beneficial to man, though he had never tasted them
himself. After eating these the Minor Canon was greatly revived, and
sat up and listened while the Griffin told him what had happened in the
town.
“Do you know,” said the monster, when he had finished, “that I have
had, and still have, a great liking for you?”
“I am very glad to hear it,” said the Minor Canon, with his usual
politeness.
“I am not at all sure that you would be,” said the Griffin, “if you
thoroughly understood the state of the case; but we will not consider
that now. If some things were different, other things would be
otherwise. I have been so enraged by discovering the manner in which
you have been treated that I have determined that you shall at last
enjoy the rewards and honors to which you are entitled. Lie down and
have a good sleep, and then I will take you back to the town.”
As he heard these words, a look of trouble came over the young man’s
face.
“You need not give yourself any anxiety,” said the Griffin, “about my
return to the town. I shall not remain there. Now that I have that
admirable likeness of myself in front of my cave, where I can sit at my
leisure, and gaze upon its noble features, I have no wish to see that
abode of cowardly and selfish people.”
The Minor Canon, relieved from his fears, lay back, and dropped into a
doze; and when he was sound asleep the Griffin took him up, and carried
him back to the town. He arrived just before daybreak, and, putting the
young man gently on the grass in the little field where he himself used
to rest, the monster, without having been seen by any of the people,
flew back to his home.
When the Minor Canon made his appearance in the morning among the
citizens, the enthusiasm and cordiality with which he was received were
truly wonderful. He was taken to a house which had been occupied by one
of the banished high officers of the place, and everyone was anxious
to do all that could be done for his health and comfort. The people
crowded into the church when he held services, so that the three old
women who used to be his week-day congregation could not get to the
best seats, which they had always been in the habit of taking; and the
parents of the bad children determined to reform them at home, in order
that he might be spared the trouble of keeping up his former school.
The Minor Canon was appointed to the highest office of the old church,
and before he died he became a bishop.
During the first years after his return from the dreadful wilds the
people of the town looked up to him as a man to whom they were bound to
do honor and reverence; but they often, also, looked up to the sky to
see if there were any signs of the Griffin coming back. However, in the
course of time, they learned to honor and reverence their former Minor
Canon without the fear of being punished if they did not do so.
But they need never have been afraid of the Griffin. The autumnal
equinox day came round, and the monster ate nothing. If he could
not have the Minor Canon, he did not care for anything. So, lying
down, with his eyes fixed upon the great stone griffin, he gradually
declined, and died. It was a good thing for some of the people of the
town that they did not know this.
If you should ever visit the old town, you would still see the little
griffins on the sides of the church; but the great stone griffin that
was over the door is gone.
THE CHRISTMAS TRUANTS
Christmas was coming, a long time ago, and the boys in a certain
far-away school were talking and thinking about it. Eleven of these
youngsters, who were all great friends, and generally kept together,
whether at work or play, held a secret meeting, at which they resolved
that they were tired of the ordinary ways of spending Christmas.
“We are bored to death,” said one of the older boys, “with Christmas
trees, with Christmas games, with Christmas carols, and with the
hanging-up of stockings on Christmas Eve. Such things may do very well
for children, but we have grown out of them.”
“That’s true!” cried the others. “We’ve grown out of that kind of
nonsense.”
“Yes, sir!” exclaimed the smallest boy of all, who was generally known
as Tomtit. “We’ve grown out of that.”
[Illustration: THEY WERE MARCHED AWAY TO THE ROBBER’S CASTLE.]
“Of course,” said the biggest boy, who was called by his companions Old
Pluck, because he had never been found to be afraid of anything,
“there will be this Christmas childishness at the school, just as
there has been always; and I propose that, instead of staying here and
submitting to it, we run away, and have a Christmas to suit ourselves.”
“Hurrah!” cried the other boys. “That’s what we shall do. Have a
Christmas to suit ourselves.”
Having made up their minds to this, these eleven boys, on the afternoon
of the next day but one to Christmas, ran away from school, in order
that they might find a place where they would be free to celebrate the
great holiday in whatever way they pleased. They walked as fast as they
could, little Tomtit keeping up bravely in the rear, although he was
obliged to run almost as much as he walked, until they were at a long
distance from the school. Night was now coming on, and Old Pluck called
a halt.
“Boys,” said he, “we will camp at the edge of that forest, and those
of you who have brought bows and arrows had better look about and see
if you can’t shoot some birds and rabbits for our supper. The unarmed
members must gather wood to make a camp-fire. But if you are tired,
Tomtit, you needn’t do anything.”
“Tired!” exclaimed the little fellow, standing up very straight and
throwing out his chest; “I should like to know why I should be tired.
I’ll go and bring some logs.”
Tomtit was very anxious to be considered just as strong and active as
the other boys. Every morning he used to get one of his companions to
feel the muscles of his arms, to see if they had not increased in size
since the day before.
The camp-fire was burning brightly when the boys with the bows and
arrows returned, stating that they had found it rather too late in the
day for game, and that it would be better to postpone the shooting
of birds and rabbits till the next morning. Old Pluck then asked
the members of his little company what provisions they had brought
with them; and it was found that no one except Tomtit had thought of
bringing anything. He had in his coat-pocket a luncheon of bread and
meat. It was thereupon ordered that Tomtit’s luncheon should be divided
into eleven portions, and the little fellow was given a knife with
which to cut it up.
It was at this time that there came through the forest a band of
robbers--five men and a chief. These men, on their way to their
castle, had been talking about the approach of Christmas.
“I am getting very tired,” said the chief, “of the wild revelries with
which on great occasions we make our castle ring. It would be a most
agreeable relief, methinks, if we could celebrate the coming Christmas
as ordinary people do. The trouble is we don’t know how.”
“You speak well,” replied one of his followers. “We would be glad
enough to have the ordinary Christmas festivities if we did but know
how such things are managed.”
The conversation was cut short at this point by the discovery of a
camp-fire at the edge of the wood. Instantly every robber crouched
close to the ground, and crept silently to the spot where the boys were
gathered around Tomtit, watching him as he cut up his luncheon.
In a few moments the chief gave a whistle, and then the robbers rushed
out, and each of the men seized two of the larger boys, while the chief
stooped down and grasped Tomtit by the collar. Some of the boys kicked
and scuffled a great deal; but this was of no use, and they were all
marched away to the robbers’ castle, little Tomtit feeling very proud
that it took a whole man to hold him by the collar.
When they reached the castle the boys were shut up in a large room,
where they were soon provided with a plentiful supper. Having finished
their meal, they were conducted to the great hall of the castle, where
the robber chief sat in his chair of state, a huge fire blazing upon
the hearth, while suits of armor, glittering weapons, and trophies of
many kinds were hung upon the walls.
The boys were now ordered to tell their story; and when Old Pluck had
finished it, the chief addressed his captives thus: “I am sure that you
young fellows could never have imagined the pleasure you were going to
give to me when you determined to run away from school at this happy
season.
“My men and myself have a fancy for a Christmas like that of other
people. We want a Christmas tree, Christmas carols and games, and all
that sort of festivity. We know nothing about these things ourselves,
and were wondering how we could manage to have the kind of Christmas
we want. But now that we have you boys with us, it will all be
simple and easy enough. You shall celebrate Christmas for us in the
manner to which you have always been accustomed. We will provide
you with everything that is necessary, and we will have a good old
school-and-home Christmas. You shall even hang up your stockings, and I
will see to it that Santa Claus for the first time visits this castle.
And now, my fine fellows, to bed with you, and to-morrow we will all go
to work to prepare for a good old-fashioned Christmas.”
The boys were conducted to a large upper room, where they found eleven
mattresses spread out upon the floor. They threw themselves upon their
beds; but not one of them could close his eyes through thinking of the
doleful plight which they were in. They had run away to get rid of the
tiresome old Christmas doings, and now they were to go through all
those very things just to please a band of robbers. The thought of it
was insupportable, and for an hour or two each boy rolled and moaned
upon his mattress.
At last Old Pluck spoke. “Boys,” he said, “all is now quiet below, and
I believe those rascally robbers have gone to bed. Let us wait a little
while longer, and then slip downstairs and run away. We can surely find
some door or window which we can open; and I, for one, am not willing
to stay here and act the part of a Christmas slave for the pleasure of
these bandits.”
“No,” exclaimed Tomtit, sitting up in bed, so as to expand his chest,
“we will never consent to that.”
The boys eagerly agreed to Old Pluck’s plan, and in about half an hour
they quietly arose and stole toward the stairs. The full moon was
shining in through the windows, so that they could see perfectly well
where they were going. They had gone a short distance down the great
staircase, when Old Pluck, who led the way, heard a slight noise behind
him. Turning to inquire what this was, he was told it was the cracking
of Tomtit’s knees.
“Pass the word to Tomtit,” he said, in a whisper, “that if he can’t
keep his knees from cracking he must stay where he is.”
Poor little Tomtit, who brought up the rear, was dreadfully troubled
when he heard this; but he bravely passed the word back that his knees
should not crack any more, and the line moved on.
It was difficult now for Tomtit to take a step, for if he bent his
knees they were sure to crack. He tried going downstairs stiff-legged,
like a pair of scissors; but this he found almost impossible, so he
made up his mind that the only thing he could do was to slide down the
broad banister. He was used to this feat, and he performed it with much
dexterity. The banister, however, was very smooth and steep, and he
went down much faster than he intended, shooting off at the bottom, and
landing on the floor on the broad of his back.
The boys were now in the great hall, and, seeing a light in the
adjoining room, they looked into it. There, upon couches made of the
skins of wild beasts, they saw the six robbers, fast asleep. A happy
thought now came into the mind of Old Pluck. Stepping back, he looked
around him, and soon perceived in one corner of the hall a quantity of
rich stuffs and other booty, bound up into bundles with heavy cords.
Taking out his knife he quickly cut off a number of these cords and
gave them to his companions.
“Boys,” he then whispered, “I have thought of a splendid plan. Let us
bind these robbers hand and foot, and then, instead of doing what they
want us to do, we can make them do what we want. That will be ever so
much better fun than running away.”
“Good!” said the boys. “But suppose they wake up while we are tying
them?”
“If we are truly brave,” said Old Pluck, “we must just go ahead, and
not think of anything like that.”
“Yes, sir,” said Tomtit, straightening himself and throwing out his
chest, “we mustn’t think of anything of that sort.”
The little fellow was terribly frightened at the idea of going into
that room and tying those big, savage men; but if the other fellows did
it, he was bound to do it too.
The boys now softly slipped into the room, and as the robbers slept
very soundly, it was not long before they were all securely bound hand
and foot, Old Pluck going around himself to see that every cord was
well drawn and knotted. Then, motioning to the boys to follow him, he
went into the great hall, and there he ordered his companions to arm
themselves.
This command was obeyed with delight by the boys. Some took swords,
some spears, while others bound around their waists great belts
containing daggers and knives. Old Pluck laid hold of a huge
battle-axe, while Tomtit clapped on his head the chief’s hat,
ornamented with eagle plumes, and took into his hand a thin, sharp
rapier, the blade of which was quite as long as himself.
When all were ready, the boys reëntered the other room, and, with
their weapons in their hands, stood over the sleeping robbers. Raising
his heavy battle-axe high above the head of the chief, Old Pluck called
out to him to awake. Instantly every man opened his eyes, and struggled
to rise. But when they found their hands and feet were tied, and saw
the boys with their swords and spears standing over them, and heard Old
Pluck’s loud voice ordering them not to move, every robber lay flat on
his back, and remained perfectly still.
“Now, then,” said Old Pluck to the chief, “if you do not promise that
you and your men will obey me for the next two days I will split your
head with this axe.”
“I am willing to parley with you,” said the chief, “and will listen to
all you have to say; but for mercy’s sake put down that battle-axe. It
is too heavy for you, and you will let it drop on me without intending
it.”
“No,” said Old Pluck, steadying the great axe as well as he could, “I
will hold it over you until we have made our bargain.”
“Speak quickly, then,” said the chief, his face turning pale as he
looked up at the trembling axe.
“All you have to do,” said Old Pluck, “is to promise that you and your
men will do everything that we tell you to do to-morrow and next day.
You will not find our tasks at all difficult, and it will be only for
two days, you know.”
“Any sort of a task, if it lasted a year,” said the chief, “would be
better than having you staggering over me with that battle-axe. I
promise without reserve for myself and men.”
“Very good,” said Old Pluck, letting down his axe as carefully as he
could. “And now we will set you free.”
The men were untied, and the boys went to bed, and the next morning
all breakfasted together in the great hall. When the meal was over the
chief pushed back his chair, and addressed the boys.
“Now, then, my young friends,” said he, “what is it that you wish me
and my men to do?”
Then stood up Old Pluck and said, “We boys, as I told you before, ran
away from school because we are tired of the old humdrum Christmas; and
nothing better could have happened to us than to get you fine fellows
into our power, as we have done. It will be the jolliest thing in the
world for us to see you and your band go through all the wild feats and
bold exploits which belong to robber life; and we would like you to
begin now, and keep it up all day and to-morrow.”
“But what would you have us do?” asked the chief, somewhat surprised.
“I should like to see you sack a village,” said Old Pluck. “How would
that suit you, boys?”
The boys all declared that they thought that would do very well, to
begin with.
The chief turned to his lieutenant and said: “Is there any village
round here that has not been recently sacked?”
The lieutenant reflected a moment. “There is Buville,” he said. “We
haven’t been there for six months.”
“Very good,” said the captain, rising; “we’ll sack Buville.”
In a short time the robber band, followed by the eleven boys, set out
for Buville, a few miles distant. When they came within sight of the
village the chief ordered his company to get behind a hedge which ran
on one side of the road, and thus stealthily approach the place.
As soon as they were near enough the chief gave a loud whistle, and the
whole company rushed wildly into the main street. The robbers flashed
their drawn swords in the sunlight and brandished their spears, while
the boys jumped and howled like so many apprentice bandits.
“Buville is ours!” cried the chief. “Come forth, ye base villagers, and
pay us tribute.”
“Come forth!” yelled little Tomtit. “Surrender, and trib!--I mean, pay
tribute.”
At this the people began to flock into the street; and presently the
principal man of the village appeared, carrying a sheet of paper and
pen and ink.
“Good-morning, bold sir,” he said, addressing the chief. “And what is
it you’ll have to-day? Shall we begin with flour? How will two barrels
do?”
The chief nodded, and the man wrote down on his paper two barrels of
flour.
“Sugar, hams, and eggs, I suppose?” continued the man.
The chief assented, and these were written down.
“Sundry groceries, of course?” said he. “And would you care for any
rich stuffs?”
“Well, I don’t know that we need any just now,” said the chief; “but
you might throw in enough gold-threaded blue taffeta to make a jerkin
for that little codger back there.”
“Three-quarters of a yard of blue taffeta,” wrote the man. And then he
looked up and asked: “Anything else to-day?”
“I believe not,” said the chief. And then brandishing his sword, he
shouted: “Back to your homes, base villagers, and thank your stars that
I let ye off so easily.”
“Home with ye!” shouted Tomtit, “and keep on star-thanking till we come
again.”
“You need be in no hurry about sending those things,” said the chief to
the principal man, as he was about to leave, “except the taffeta. I’d
like to have that to-day.”
“Very good,” said the other; “I’ll send it immediately.”
As the robbers and boys departed, the latter were not at all slow to
say that they were very much disappointed at what they had seen. It was
tamer than a game of football.
“The fact is,” said the chief, “these villagers have been sacked so
often that the people are used to it, and they just walk out and pay up
without making any row about it. It’s the easiest way, both for them
and for us; but I admit that it is not very exciting.”
“I should say not,” said Old Pluck. “What I want is ‘the wild rush and
dash, the clink and the clank, and the jingly-jank, hi-ho!’”
“That’s so!” shouted little Tomtit. “‘The clink and the clank, and the
jingly-jank, ho hi!’”
“I think we’ll next try a highway robbery,” said Old Pluck, “and stop a
company of travellers on the road. That must be exciting.”
The boys all shouted their assent to this plan, and the robber chief
led the way to the nearest high-road.
Here the whole party concealed themselves behind rocks and bushes, and
waited patiently for a company of travellers to pass by. It was a long,
long time before anybody came, and Tomtit had a sound nap in the shade
of a hedge.
At last dust was seen in the distance, and before long five horsemen
came riding up. They were all elderly men, and each of them led a mule
or a horse, loaded with heavy panniers and packages. With drawn swords
and brandished spears the robbers rushed out, followed by the boys,
with yells and shouts. Instantly the elderly men stopped and descended
from their horses.
“We surrender,” said the leader to the robber chief; “but we pray you
will not pillage us utterly. We are going to seek a new home for our
families, and for the money we get for the sale of these goods we
hope to buy the little land we need. If you take these, you leave us
nothing.”
The chief turned to Old Pluck, and said: “Well, what shall we do about
it? Shall we take their goods?”
“If you set out to do a thing,” said Old Pluck, “I don’t see why you
don’t do it. There’s no sense in backing down.”
“That’s so!” cried Tomtit, who had just wakened up, and pushed his
way through the hedge. “No backing down. Your money or your lives,
travellers. Take notice of that.”
“Lead away the horses and mules,” said the chief to his men, “and let
the travellers go.”
As they were leaving the scene of this exploit Old Pluck did not feel
altogether easy in his mind. “There used to be a good habit among
robbers,” he said to the chief, “and that was to give to the poor what
they took from the rich. We will go along this road until we meet some
really poor people, and we will give them these goods.”
The robbers and boys, with the loaded horses and mules, walked along
the road for nearly an hour, but met with no poor people. At last the
chief declared that it was time to turn and go back to the castle, if
they wanted to be there by dinner-time. The boys were very willing to
go to dinner, and the whole party retraced their steps.
When they reached the spot where they had robbed the travellers, they
were surprised to see the five elderly men sitting by the roadside,
groaning mournfully.
“What, here yet!” cried the chief. “What’s the matter?”
“There is no use going anywhere,” sadly replied the leader. “We have
no money with which to buy even food to eat, and no goods to sell. We
might as well die here as in any other place.”
“Boys,” exclaimed Old Pluck, after gazing a few moments on the
unfortunate group, “I don’t believe we will ever find anybody as poor
as these travellers now are. Let us give them the goods.”
“All right!” shouted the boys. And the loaded horses and mules were
delivered to their former owners.
After dinner the boys began to grumble a good deal at the
disappointments of the morning.
“We’ve done nothing yet,” cried Old Pluck, “that is half exciting
enough, and we are bound to have a good time this afternoon. I go in
for burning a town.”
“Hurrah!” said the boys. “We’ll burn a town!”
“That is a very serious thing,” said the chief. “Can’t you think of
something else?”
Old Pluck looked at him reproachfully. “We want something serious,” he
said. “What we’ve had so far is nothing but child’s play.”
The chief now saw that if he persisted in his objections he would hurt
the feelings of the boys, and so he consented to burn a town. A few
miles to the south there was a good-sized town, which the chief thought
would burn very well, and thither the boys and robbers repaired,
carrying blazing torches and fire-brands.
When they reached the town and had made known their purpose the people
were filled with alarm. They crowded into the streets and begged the
robbers not to burn their houses, their goods, and perhaps themselves
and their children.
The chief now took the boys aside, and consulted with them.
“I wish you would consider this matter a little more before you order
me to set this town in flames. I am told that there is a magazine
filled with gunpowder in the centre of the place, and there will be a
terrible explosion when the fire reaches it.”
“Hurrah!” cried the boys; “that will be splendid.”
“Many of these citizens will lose their lives,” said the chief, “and
the rest will be utterly ruined.”
“Now, look here,” cried Old Pluck, “there’s no use of always backing
down. I’m tired of it.”
“Very well,” said the chief, “but you yourselves must inform the people
of your decision.”
“We’ll do that,” said Old Pluck. “Tomtit, you go tell those people that
the town has got to burn, and there’s no use talking any more about it.”
“That’s so,” said Tomtit. “She has got to burn.” And with his chest
thrown out, and his hands in his pockets, the little fellow boldly
advanced to the crowd of people.
As soon as he came near the old men, the women and the children fell on
their knees around him, and with tears and lamentations besought him to
intercede with the robbers to save their town. Poor little Tomtit was
very much moved by their wild grief and despair. Tears came into his
eyes, and his little chest heaved with emotion; but he kept up a brave
heart, and stood true to his companions.
“It’s no use,” he said, “for you to be blubbering and crying. Your
houses have all got to be burned up, and the powder-magazine has got
to go off with a big bang, and your furniture and beds will all be
burned, and the babies’ cradles, and--and--I’m awful sorry for it,” and
here the tears rolled down his cheeks; “but we boys have got to stick
by each other, and you won’t have any homes, and I expect you will all
perish--boo-hoo! But it won’t do to back down--boo-hoo-hoo! And the
little babies will die; but the old thing has got to burn, you know.”
“Now, look here, Tomtit,” said Old Pluck, who, with the rest of the
boys, had drawn near, “don’t you be too hard on these people. I say let
the town stand.”
The boys agreed with one voice. And Tomtit, kicking one of his little
legs above his head, shouted in ecstasy: “Yes, sir, let the town stand,
babies and all.”
At this the women rushed up to the little fellow, and, seizing him in
their arms, nearly kissed him to death.
“I’d like to know what we are to do next,” sadly remarked Old Pluck.
“I’ll tell you,” cried Tomtit. “Let the chief steal a bride.”
The whole company stopped and looked at Tomtit. “Little boy,” said
they, “what do you mean?”
“Why, of course,” said Tomtit, “I mean for the chief to seize a fair
damsel and carry her off on his horse to be his bride, the wild hoofs
clattering amid the crags.”
“Hoot!” cried all the boys in derision. And the chief said to Tomtit:
“Little boy, I know of no fair damsel to steal, and, besides, I do not
want a bride.”
“It’s pretty hard,” said Tomtit, wiping his eyes with his little
sleeve. “I’ve done just what you fellows told me to, and now you won’t
order anything I want to see.”
That night the boys ordered the robbers to hold high revels in the
great hall. The flowing bowl was passed, and the great flagons were
filled high; wild songs were sung, and the welkin was made to ring, as
well as the robbers could do it, with jovial glee. The boys watched the
proceedings for some time, but they did not find them very interesting,
and soon went to bed.
The next morning Old Pluck called a meeting of his companions. “Boys,”
he said, “this robber life is a good deal stupider than anything we
left behind us. Let’s get back to school as fast as we can, and enjoy
what is left of the Christmas fun. We will all admit that we are sorry
for what we have done, and will promise not to run away again; and
Tomtit can go to the master and tell him so.”
“I’ll be the first one whipped,” ruefully remarked Tomtit; “but if you
boys say so, of course I’ll do it.”
The boys now took leave of the robbers, Tomtit having been first
presented with the piece of blue taffeta to make him a jerkin. When
they reached the school Tomtit told his tale, and he was the only one
who was not punished.
The next year these eleven boys were leaving school for a vacation,
and on their way home they thought they would stop and see their old
friends, the robbers. Much to their surprise, they found everything
changed at the castle. It was now a boys’ school; the chief was the
principal, and each of the other robbers was a teacher.
“You see,” said the principal to Old Pluck, “we never knew how stupid
and uninteresting a robber’s life was until we were forced to lead it
against our will. While you were here we learned to like boys very
much, and so we concluded to set up this school.”
“Do you have Christmas trees, and carols, and games?”
“Oh, yes,” answered the principal.
“So do we,” said Old Pluck.
“Yes, sir,” exclaimed Tomtit, standing up very straight. “No more fire
and tribute for us. We’ve grown out of that kind of nonsense.”
SUGGESTIONS TO TEACHERS
These suggestions and questions are prepared to aid the child in
getting food for thought. Many ethical questions are touched upon in
these stories, phases of the great problems of life which each citizen
must solve for himself. The school-room is a little community, of
which each child is a unit, and there he should get training for good
citizenship. Let him grapple, then, with these questions, for he would
better be striving after a large truth than altogether absorbing a
little one.
OLD PIPES AND THE DRYAD
This story is akin to the Greek and the Latin myths, and will lead
you back to the beginnings of literature, to the myth of Daphne and
her changing to a laurel-tree, the myth of Dryope, and Virgil’s
account of the transformation of Polydore (Æneid, Book III.)--all
of which are tree-myths. Conington’s metrical translation of Virgil
tells this story very musically.
These dryad stories have been the inspiration of poets and artists of
all ages. I hope you may some day see the beautiful picture of Daphne
changing to the laurel-tree that a French artist has painted.
It will add much to the value of the child’s study of literature if
the teacher will read or tell these myths to the children. They
may be found in Gayley’s “Classic Myths,” Murray’s “Mythology,”
Bulfinch’s “Mythology,” or any classical dictionary.
It is easy for us to see that, in this myth of Daphne, the Greek
people were telling us, in their poetic way, that the dawn ever flew
at the sun’s approach.
In this story the loving helpfulness of Old Pipes brought back his
strength and youth quite as much as the kiss of the Dryad; for are we
not always strong and happy when helping others?
What other pieces of literature teach this lesson?
Read Lowell’s poem, “Rhœcus.”
Compare the dryad in Stockton’s story with the dryads of the myths.
How do you think this idea of dryads originated?
Discuss the character of Old Pipes. Have you ever met another like
him in your reading?
Did the Dryad do right in not returning the money to the villagers?
THE BEE-MAN OF ORN
This story can be made a starting-point for interesting science
lessons. Children can easily observe the habits of bees. In ancient
times, when honey was a staple article of food, much was thought
and written about the care of bees. Read with the children John
Burroughs’ “Birds and Bees,” also bits from Virgil’s “Georgics,” Book
IV.
Lead the children to discuss the following points:
Why did the bees not sting the Bee-Man?
What is it that leads animals to like a person?
Did his ugly appearance hinder the bees from liking the Bee-Man?
Would it hinder you from liking him?
Do you think the Bee-Man had flowers growing in the little garden
outside his hut?
What kind of flowers? Why?
Do all flowers with perfume yield honey?
Which would derive more pleasure from watching the life and habits of
bees, a busy person or a lazy one?
Do bees make weather observations? Virgil says that bees do not go
far from the hive when an east wind is blowing.
What do you think was the Junior Sorcerer’s reason for thinking the
Bee-Man had been transformed?
Do you agree with the Junior Sorcerer in his opinion of the Bee-Man:
that he was a “miserable old man”?
When the Bee-Man first felt himself drawn toward the Lord of the
Domain, what was it that influenced him? Are appearances to be
trusted?
Do you ever meet people who, like the Languid Youth, dislike to face
duty alone, and would always rather have someone go with them?
The Bee-Man shrunk from entering the cavern, yet within it he found
that phase of life toward which he was most drawn; so the unpleasant
duties of life from which we so often shrink contain the best things
that life has in store for us.
Suppose the Languid Youth had found the baby in the cavern, what
would he have done?
If you had a chance to go back to your babyhood again, do you think
you would grow up to be the same person that you are now?
Which character in this story do you like best? Why?
THE CLOCKS OF RONDAINE
This story naturally leads to the history of clocks and time-pieces
of various kinds, from the crude hour-glass, the burning candle
graduated to last a certain time, the water-clock, much the same
as the hour-glass, and the dial on which the shadow of the sun is
traced, down to the clocks which we have now, and especially those
of finest mechanism and beautiful ornamentation.
The industry of clock-making is a very important one. In the United
States it has been built up almost entirely in the last sixty years.
Many years ago clock movements were made of wood; now they are made,
as every child knows, of metal, which is cheaper to manufacture and
more durable.
In the days of the Revolution many clocks were made in Connecticut,
using no machinery in their manufacture, but cutting the wheels and
teeth with a saw and jack-knife. Then the makers would travel to the
more recently settled country and sell these crude wooden clocks for
twenty-five dollars apiece.
A description and pictures of the Strasbourg Clock could be made
interesting here.
In what part of the world do you think Rondaine was?
What characteristics should you expect to find in the people of a
town containing so many clocks?
What particular occupations should you expect to find these people
following?
For which did the people care more, clocks or time?
We thought, in the early part of the story, that Arla was the only
person in all Rondaine who cared to know the correct time. Do you
still think so, after finishing the story?
Suppose we followed the reasoning of the little old lady with white
hair, saying that what was good enough for our grandfathers is good
enough for us, how would it affect the world?
Is there anything in this story that seems improbable, that is, does
it seem like a true story?
What truth does it leave with us?
THE GRIFFIN AND THE MINOR CANON
Lead pupils to discuss their ideas of griffins before reading the
story.
To what age of literature do griffin and dragon stories belong?
How could the Griffin know that the stone image was a good likeness
of himself?
What things do you think the Griffin told the Minor Canon about
minerals, metals, and the wonders of the world?
Stop at the point in the story just prior to the sending away of the
Minor Canon, and let the children discuss what _they_ would have done
under those circumstances.
Do you agree with the Griffin in his opinion of the only two good
things in the town?
What did the Griffin mean when he said, “If some things were
different, other things would be otherwise”?
Thus we learn that goodness, bravery, and honesty, even in a griffin,
demand for companionship, goodness, bravery, and honesty.
Ruskin says some very good things about dragons in the first few
pages of “The Queen of the Air.”
How do the things we see every day affect our characters?
Some very interesting and profitable comparisons may be made between
this story and Hawthorne’s story of the “Great Stone Face”; and since
comparison is such a mind-strengthener, the teacher should never lose
such an opportunity.
THE SCRIBNER SERIES _of_ SCHOOL READING
A uniform supplementary reading series, specially edited for use in
elementary schools and carefully graded in accordance with results
obtained from actual tests in the class room. The main purpose of
this series is to introduce into the class room the best literature,
particularly the writings of those contemporary American authors
who naturally appeal to young people, and to bring this excellent
literature within the reach of all schools by offering the books at
a very moderate price. The volumes are profusely illustrated, and
handsomely and durably bound.
=Fanciful Tales.= By FRANK R. STOCKTON. Edited by JULIA E. LANGWORTHY.
Illustrated.
=Hans Brinker.= By MARY MAPES DODGE. Illustrated.
=A Child’s Garden of Verses.= By ROBERT LOUIS STEVENSON. Illustrated.
=Some Merry Adventures of Robin Hood.= By HOWARD PYLE. Illustrated by
the author.
=America First.= By FRANCES NIMMO GREENE. Illustrated.
=The Hoosier School Boy.= By EDWARD EGGLESTON. Illustrated.
=Krag and Johnny Bear.= Being the Personal Histories of Krag, Randy,
Johnny Bear, and Chink. By ERNEST THOMPSON SETON. Illustrated.
=Lobo, Rag, and Vixen.= Selections from “Wild Animals I Have
Known.” By ERNEST THOMPSON SETON. With 4 full-page and many other
illustrations from drawings by the Author.
=Hero Tales Told in School.= By JAMES BALDWIN. Illustrated.
=The Page Story Book.= Selections for School Reading by THOMAS NELSON
PAGE. Edited by FRANK E. SPALDING and CATHERINE T. BRYCE.
=The van Dyke Book.= Selections for School Reading. By HENRY VAN
DYKE. Edited by Professor EDWIN MIMS. A new edition, revised, with
an introduction by MAXWELL STRUTHERS BURT. Illustrated.
=The Howells Story Book.= By WILLIAM DEAN HOWELLS. Selected and
arranged by MARY E. BURT. Illustrated by MISS HOWELLS.
=The Eugene Field Book.= Verses, Stories, and Letters for School
Reading. By EUGENE FIELD. Edited by MARY E. BURT and MARY L. CABLE.
With an Introduction by GEORGE W. CABLE. Illustrated.
=The Lanier Book.= Selections for School Reading. By SIDNEY LANIER.
Edited and arranged by MARY E. BURT, in co-operation with MRS.
LANIER. Illustrated.
=The Cable Story Book.= Selections for School Reading. By GEORGE W.
CABLE. Edited by MARY E. BURT and LUCY L. CABLE. Illustrated.
=The Roosevelt Book.= Selections from the writings of Theodore
Roosevelt, with an introduction by ROBERT BRIDGES. Illustrated.
=Things Will Take a Turn.= By BEATRICE HARRADEN. Illustrated.
=Around the World in the Sloop Spray.= By Captain JOSHUA SLOCUM.
Illustrated.
=Twelve Naval Captains.= With portraits. By MOLLY ELLIOTT SEAWELL.
=Poems of American Patriotism.= Chosen by BRANDER MATTHEWS.
=Children’s Stories of American Literature, 1660-1860.= By HENRIETTA
CHRISTIAN WRIGHT.
=Children’s Stories of American Literature, 1860-1896.= By HENRIETTA
CHRISTIAN WRIGHT.
=Children’s Stories in American History.= By HENRIETTA CHRISTIAN
WRIGHT.
=Children’s Stories in American Progress.= By HENRIETTA CHRISTIAN
WRIGHT.
=Herakles, the Hero of Thebes, and Other Heroes of the Myth.= By MARY
E. BURT and ZENAIDE RAGEZIN. Illustrated.
=Odysseus: The Hero of Ithaca.= By MARY E. BURT. Illustrated.
=The Boy General.= By MRS. GEORGE A. CUSTER and MARY E. BURT.
Illustrated.
=Don Quixote De La Mancha.= By MIGUEL DE CERVANTES. From the
translations of Duffield and Shelton. By MARY E. BURT and LUCY
LEFFINGWELL CABLE.
TRANSCRIBER’S NOTES:
Italicized text is surrounded by underscores: _italics_.
Emboldened text is surrounded by equals signs: =bold=.
Obvious typographical errors have been corrected.
Inconsistencies in hyphenation have been standardized.
Archaic or variant spelling has been retained.
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