Maud Lindsay

“ SHE TOOK THE LITTLE PRINCE IN HER ARMS AND KISSED HIM.
"Your little highness is like the king's parrot that knows but one word with your rosemary, rosemary, rosemary," said the nurse who was a little out of patience by that time. "Her majesty, the queen, only asked for it to please you. You may be sure of that."
But the little prince was not sure; and when the nurse had gone to her supper and he was left by chance for a moment alone, he put on his coat of fur, and taking the ball with him he slipped away from the palace, and hastened toward the old woman's house. ”

“ The travelers hastened joyfully along it and all went well with them until, one day, they met a man whose face was turned toward the land from which they had just come. [113]
"Good neighbors," he cried, "why travel you so fast? Is a house afire or a friend ill; or does a feast wait till you come? Tell me, I pray you, that I may sorrow with you, or rejoice, as your need may be."
"Rejoice, rejoice!" cried the three; "for we journey to the king's House Beautiful, where a place is prepared for us." ”

“ And many an evening, though Hildegarde was growing to be a great girl, her mother sat by her bed to sing a song that she had sung to her when she was a babe in the cradle:
"Hush, my baby, do not cry,
Five brave knights go riding by.
One is dressed in bonny blue;
He's the leader, strong and true.
One is clad from head to toe
In an armor white as snow. ”

“ There was no whispering voice in the wood that day and no talking rabbit to tempt him to a chase; but as he came to a place where another path crossed his own, a bird called out from the heart of the wood:
"Quick, quick, come here, here, here——"
"Where, where?" cried Karl; and he was just about to start in search of the bird when he remembered what his grandmother had said:
"If any bid you stop or stay, or turn your feet from out your way, say but the word that is spelled with the fourteenth and fifteenth letters of the alphabet three times in a loud voice, and all will go well with you." ”

“ Nearer and nearer they came till at last they reached the spot where Hans sat and lighted [75] at his feet. And they were the very birds that Hans had helped. Their wings had grown strong enough by this time to carry them wherever they wanted to go and they flapped them joyfully as they cried:
"One good turn deserves another. You helped us, and we have come to help you."
It was no trouble for them to fly into the orchard high above the dragon's head; and almost before Hans knew they were gone they were back again bringing with them the golden apple that the king desired. ”

“ Then said the moon: "Many a nightingale there is in the wide world, both free and caged, and how may I know yours from any other? But this I can tell you: through a window in the castle of the Great Giant, which stands upon a high hill beside the Silver Sea, I spy a nightingale in a golden cage which was not there when I shone through that same window yester eve; and moreover, at the World's End, which is beyond the Giant's castle, I see a band of goblins counting money."
"A thousand thanks to you, oh moon," cried Pease-Blossom joyfully when he heard this ”

“ There was soon as large a crowd as went to church on Sunday gathered about the two friends; and the tailor and the tinker talked as fast as they had run, to tell their thrilling tale.
"A BEAR!" CRIED THE TAILOR.
"We were just coming through the wood," said the tailor, "when there, as close to us as the shoemaker is to the blacksmith, we saw——"
"A terrible creature," interrupted the tinker. "'Tis as large as a calf, I assure you——"
"And white as the mayor's shirt," cried the tailor. ”

“ Some of the king's counselors wanted him to gather his armies and march at once into the duke's kingdom.
"If we do not make war upon him, he will make war upon us," they said.
But some of the king's counselors loved peace, and among these was the elder brother, in whom the king had great trust. [18]
"Let me, I pray you, ride to the duke's castle," he said to the king, "that we may learn from his own lips if he is friend or foe, for much is told that is not true; and it is easier to begin a fight than it is to end one." ”

“ Now her way was the king's highway, and as she walked there she met a young lord who was dressed in [62] his finest clothes, for he was going to see his lady love. He would have been as handsome a young man as ever the sun shone on had it not been that his forehead was wrinkled into a terrible frown, and the corners of his mouth drawn down as if he had not a friend left in the whole world. ”

“ But when the man heard this he shook his head sorrowfully as if what they told him was grievous news indeed.
"I, too, had thought of going there," he said; "but that was before I knew of the lions in the way."
"Lions in the way!" cried the travelers, looking at each other with startled eyes.
"Aye, lions," repeated the man solemnly, "the fiercest and largest that ever man saw. ”

“ But when they had grown to manhood, and the time had come when they must make their own fortunes, the elder brother said to the younger:
"Choose as you will what you shall do, and God bless your choice; but as for me I shall make haste to the court of the king, for nothing will satisfy me but to serve him and my country."
"Good fortune and a blessing go with you," said the [16] younger brother. "I, too, should like to serve my country and the king, but I have neither words nor wit for a king's court. ”

“ No sooner had they gone than the sick child began to talk of the wonderfull ball.
"If I had such a ball to hold in my hand," he said, "I should be contented all the day."
"You may as well wish for the moon in the sky," said his grandmother; but she thought of what he said, and in the evening when he was asleep she put her shawl around her, and taking the jar of rosemary with her she hastened to the king's palace.
When she got there the servants asked her errand but she would answer nothing till they had taken her to the little prince. ”

“ The more the old woman thought of the dumpling the more she wanted it, and at last she dressed herself in her Sunday best and started out to seek an apple.
Before she left home, however, she filled a basket [58] with plums from her plum-tree and, covering it over with a white cloth, hung it on her arm, for she said to herself: "There may be those in the world who have apples, and need plums." ”

“ He had no time to think of himself though, for there asleep in the golden cage which the moon had seen was the queen's nightingale. There was no mistaking her, for there was a tiny feather missing from the tip of her right wing, and that missing feather was in Pease-Blossom's Sunday cap hanging in an alder bush in the fairy dell that very minute.
The Giant was asleep, too, but the golden cage was on a table close beside him, so close that poor Pease-Blossom, whose wings were not improved by the soot [100] from the chimney, could not reach it without climbing upon the Giant's bed. ”

“ But the elder brother would have none of these things for himself alone.
"Try as I would, I must have failed had it not been for my brother, the blacksmith, who shod my horse on the road to-day," he said; "and, if it please your majesty, half of all you give to me I will give to him." [23]
"Two good servants are better than one," said the king, and he sent for the younger brother that he might thank him also. ”

“ But the old woman made haste to take the bag of feathers out of her basket, and give it to them. [61]
"A feather cushion is fit for a king," she said, "and as for me, an apple for a dumpling, or a nosegay from your garden will serve me as well as what I give."
The man and the woman had no apples, but they were glad to exchange a nosegay from their garden for a bag of fine feathers, you may be sure.
"There is nothing nicer for a cushion than feathers," said the woman. ”

“ But for those creatures that work harm to others, and for the goblins who delight in mischief they had no love, and every day and every night a watch was set to drive them from the fairy dell.
Each fay in turn kept guard and all went well till one evening when Pease-Blossom, the best-loved fairy in the dell, fell asleep at his post and the goblins stole away the nightingale that sang each night at the queen's court. ”

“ THE PLATE OF PANCAKES
nce upon a time a woman was frying some pancakes, and as she turned the last cake in the pan she said to her little boy:
"If you were a little older I should send you with some of these fine cakes for your father's dinner, but as it is, he must wait till supper for them."
"Oh, do let me take them," said the little boy, whose name was Karl. "Just see how tall I am. And only yesterday my grandmother said I was old enough to learn my letters. Do let me go!" ”

“ He had heard it as he came from the forest where he cut wood all day and he hurried every step of the way home to tell Hildegarde and her mother.
"They are on the king's business and will be at the Church Square to-morrow morning at the hour of ten. Everybody in town will be there to see them. Old Grandmother Grey is going to ask them to ride in search of her little lamb that has gone astray; and the mayor will tell them of the wolves that come in the winter. The good knights are always glad to help," he said. ”

“ And so it happened that when the queen sat down before her great table of gifts the first thing she spied was a jar of sweet rosemary like that which had bloomed in her mother's window when she was a little girl.
"I should rather have it than all the other gifts in the world," she said; and she took the little prince in her arms and kissed him.
[34]
THE PROMISE [2] A Christmas Wonder Story for Older Children
here was once a harper who played such beautiful music and sang such beautiful songs that his fame spread throughout the whole land ”

“ The young woman told the old woman about her fowls and the old woman told the young woman about the dumpling and the basket of plums for which she hoped to get apples.
"Dear me," said the young woman when she heard this, "there is nothing my husband likes better than plum jelly with goose for his Sunday dinner, but un [59] less you will take a bag of feathers for your plums he must do without, for that is the best I can offer you."
"One pleased is better than two disappointed," said the old woman then ”

“ I did not run till the tailor did."
The two would have been willing to talk till morning had not all the others determined to go to the wood at once and kill the bear.
[81]
"I cannot answer for the safety of the town till it is done," said the mayor; so every one ran for a weapon as fast as his feet could carry him.
The mayor brought his long sword that the king had given him, and the carpenter a hatchet, the blacksmith took his hammer, and the miller's son a gun; and the rest of the men whatever they could put their hands on. ”