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 BYMISSMULOCK 
 ILLUSTRATED BY ALICE CARSEY 
 
UNIVERSITY OF 
 
 NORTH CAROLINA 
 
 School of Library 
 
 Science 
 
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 "y^H ITT^TATST "Pu B LI S H I MG^Co. 
 
 RACINE, WISCONSIN 
 
Digitized by the Internet Archive 
 
 in 2012 with funding from 
 
 University of North Carolina at Chapel Hil 
 
 http://www.archive.org/details/adventuresofbrowcraik 
 
Contents 
 
 BROWNIE AND THE COOK 9 
 
 BROWNIE AND THE CHERRY TREE 25 
 
 BROWNIE IN THE FARM-YARD 85 
 
 BROWNIE'S RIDE 57 
 
 BROWNIE ON THE ICE 77 
 
 BROWNIE AND THE CLOTHES 99 
 
 THE FAIR ONE WITH THE GOLDEN LOCKS. . . 119 
 
 THE WOOD-CUTTER'S DAUGHTER 139 
 
 THE BLUEBIRD 173 
 
 696719 
 
w 
 
Illu&rations 
 t7> 
 
 NOBODY HAD EVER SEEN HIM EXCEPT THE CHILDREN 
 
 (Color Frontispiece) 
 
 I'ECORATIVE TITLE PAGE 
 
 THE MILK WAS ALWAYS PUT BEHIND THE CELLAR 
 
 DOOR 11 
 
 THE COOK CAME DOWN STAIRS EARLIER THAN USUAL 
 
 (Color) 18 
 
 A FAVORITE PLACE WAS THE ORCHARD (Color) 19 
 
 "HOW DO YOU DO, MRS. PUSSY?" 19 
 
 HE HELPED TO PICK UP THE CHERRIES 31 
 
 THE WIFE ROSE WITH THE DAWN TO FEED HER 
 
 POULTRY 38 
 
 HE PLACED HIMSELF UPON THE MILKING STOOL 43 
 
 SHE HAD MADE A NEST FOR HERSELF 48 
 
 WATCH THEM RUNNING TO THE OLD HEN (Color) 51 
 
 SHE WAS NO BIGGER THAN A DONKEY 65 
 
 SHE COULD NOT BE CAUGHT AGAIN FOR MANY MIN- 
 UTES (Color) 66 
 
 HE TALKED WITH THE GARDENER'S WIFE 68 
 
viii ILLUSTRATIONS 
 
 OUT SHE CAME, WETTER AND BRISKER THAN EVER .... 79 
 
 SHE BADE FAIR TO BECOME A GREAT PET (Color) 82 
 
 ONE OP THEM PULLED THE GARDENER'S COAT-TAILS. . 83 
 
 "HO-HO, LITTLE PEOPLE," HE SAID 87 
 
 SHE CUT FIVE BIG SLICES 91 
 
 THEY ALL WENT DOWN THE LAKE (Color) 99 
 
 SUDDENLY THE BARROW TILTED OVER 103 
 
 THE GARDENER HAD RHEUMATISM (Color) 106 
 
 SHE WASHED AND HUNG HER CLOTHES ALL OVER 
 
 AGAIN (Color) 107 
 
 I SHOULD LIKE A BROWNIE TO PLAY WITH ME 114 
 
 COQUETTE USED TWO BOTTLES OF ESSENCE (Color) .... 130 
 
 "OBEY ME STILL," SHE SAID GRACIOUSLY 131 
 
 HE CAME HOME TO HIS WIFE 143 
 
 SHE FOUND HERSELF WANDERING ON THE HIGHWAY 
 
 (Color) 146 
 
 HE BROUGHT SOME CAKES AND CHEESE (Color) 147 
 
 HE HAD A DAUGHTER NAMED FLORINA (Color) 162 
 
 THE CASTLE 175 
 
 BUT THOUGH HE LOOKED LIKE A BLUEBIRD (Color) .... 178 
 
 THE BEAUTIFUL BLUEBIRD HID IN A HOLLOW TREE ... 185 
 
 THEY CONVERSED TILL DAYBREAK (Color) 194 
 
The G/Idventures 
 of a brownie 
 
e 
 
 THE ADVENTURES 
 -A- BROWNIE 
 
 BROWNIE AND THE COOK 
 
 THERE was once a little Brownie, who lived — 
 where do you think he lived? In a coal-cellar. 
 
 Now a coal-cellar may seem a most curious 
 place to choose to live in; but then a Brownie is a 
 curious creature — a fairy, and yet not one of that 
 sort of fairies who fly about on gossamer wings, 
 and dance in the moonlight, and so on. He never 
 dances; and as to wings, what use would they be to 
 him in a coal-cellar? He is a sober, stay-at-home, 
 household elf — nothing much to look at, even if you 
 did see him, which you are not likely to do — only a 
 
10 ADVENTURES OF A BROWNIE 
 
 little old man, about a foot high, all dressed in 
 brown, with a brown face and hands, and a brown 
 peaked cap, just the color of a brown mouse. And, 
 like a mouse, he hides in corners — especially 
 kitchen corners, and only comes out after dark 
 when nobody is about, and so sometimes people 
 call him Mr. Nobody. 
 
 I said you were not likely to see him. I never 
 did, certainly, and never knew anybody that did; 
 but still, if you were to go into Devonshire, you 
 would hear many funny stories about Brownies in 
 general, and so I may as well tell you the adven- 
 tures of this particular Brownie, who belonged to 
 a family there; which family he had followed from 
 house to house, most faithfully, for years and 
 years. 
 
 A good many people had heard him — or sup- 
 posed they had — when there were extraordinary 
 noises about the house; noises which must have 
 come from a mouse or a rat — or a Brownie. But 
 nobody had ever seen him except the children — 
 the three little boys and three little girb — who 
 declared he often came to play with them when 
 they were alone, and was the nicest companion in 
 the world, though he was such an old man — 
 hundreds of years old! He was full of fun and 
 mischief, and up to all sorts of tricks, but he never 
 did anybody any harm unless they deserved it. 
 
THE MILK WAS ALWAYS PUT BEHIND THE CELLAR DOOR 
 
12 ADVENTURES OF A BROWNIE 
 
 Brownie was supposed to live under one par- 
 ticular coal, in the darkest corner of the cellar, 
 which was never allowed to be disturbed. Why 
 he had chosen it nobody knew, and how he lived 
 there, nobody knew either, nor what he lived upon. 
 Except that, ever since the family could remem- 
 ber, there had always been a bowl of milk put be- 
 hind the coal-cellar door for the Brownie's sup- 
 per. Perhaps he drank it — perhaps he didn't; any- 
 how, the bowl was always found empty next morn- 
 ing'. The old Cook, who had lived all her life in the 
 family, had never once forgotten to give Brownie 
 his supper; but at last she died, and a young Cook 
 came in her stead, who was very apt to forget 
 everything. She was also both careless and lazy, 
 and disliked taking the trouble to put a bowl of 
 milk in the same place every night for Mr. No- 
 body. "She didn't believe in Brownies," she said; 
 "she had never seen one, and seeing's believing." 
 So she laughed at the other servants, who looked 
 very grave, and put the bowl of milk in its place 
 as often as they could, without saying much about 
 it. 
 
 But once, when Brownie woke up, at his usual 
 hour for rising — ten o'clock at night, and looked 
 round in search of his supper — which was, in fact, 
 his breakfast — he found nothing there. At first 
 he could not imagine such neglect, and went smell- 
 
BROWNIE AND THE COOK 13 
 
 ing and smelling about for his bowl of milk — it 
 was not always placed in the same corner now — 
 but in vain. 
 
 "This will never do," said he; and, being ex- 
 tremely hungry, began running about the coal- 
 cellar to see what he could find. His eyes were as 
 useful in the dark as in the light — like a pussy- 
 cat's; but there was nothing to be seen — not even 
 a potato paring, or a dry crust, or a well-gnawed 
 bone, such as Tiny the terrier sometimes brought 
 into the coal-cellar and left on the floor — nothing, 
 in short, but heaps of coal and coal-dust; and 
 even a Brownie can not eat that, you know. 
 
 "Can't stand this; quite impossible!" said the 
 Brownie, tightening his belt to make his poor little 
 mside feel less empty. He had been asleep so long 
 — about a week, I believe, as was his habit when 
 there was nothing to do — that he seemed ready to 
 eat his own head, or his boots, or anything. 
 "What's to be done? Since nobody brings my sup- 
 per, I must go and fetch it." 
 
 He spoke quickly, for he always thought 
 quickly, and made up his mind in a minute. To 
 be sure, it was a very little mind, like his little 
 body; but he did the best he could with it, and was 
 not a bad sort of old fellow, after all. In the house 
 he had never done any harm, and often some good, 
 for he frightened away all the rats, mice, and 
 
14 ADVENTURES OF A BROWNIE 
 
 black-beetles. Not the crickets — he liked them, as 
 the old Cook had done: she said they were such 
 cheerful creatures, and always brought luck to the 
 house. But the young Cook could not hear them, 
 and used to pour boiling water down their holes, 
 and set basins of beer for them with little wooden 
 bridges up to the rim, that they might walk up, 
 tumble in, and be drowned. 
 
 So there was not even a cricket singing in the 
 silent house when Brownie put his head out of his 
 coal-cellar door, which, to his surprise, he found 
 open. Old Cook used to lock it every night, but 
 the young Cook had left that key, and the kitchen 
 and pantry keys too, all dangling in the lock, so 
 that any thief might have gotten in, and wan- 
 dered all over the house without being found out. 
 
 "Hurrah, here's luck!" cried Brownie, tossing 
 his cap up in the air, and bounding right through 
 the scullery into the kitchen. It was quite empty, 
 but there was a good fire burning itself out — just 
 for its own amusement, and the remains of a capi- 
 tal supper spread on the table — enough for half a 
 dozen people being left still. 
 
 Would you like to know what there was? Dev- 
 onshire cream, of course; and part of a large dish 
 of junket, which is something like curds and whey. 
 Lots of bread-and-butter and cheese, and half an 
 apple-pudding. Also a great jug of cider and an- 
 
BROWNIE AND THE COOK 15 
 
 other of milk, and several half -full glasses, and 
 no end of dirty plates, knives, and forks. All were 
 scattered about the table in the most untidy fash- 
 ion, just as the servants had risen from their sup- 
 per, without thinking to put anything away. 
 
 Brownie screwed up his little old face and 
 turned up his button of a nose, and gave a long 
 whistle. You might not believe it, seeing he lived 
 in a coal-cellar; but really he liked tidiness, and 
 always played his pranks upon disorderly or slov- 
 enly folk. 
 
 "Whew!" said he; "here's a chance. SVhat a 
 supper I'll get now!" 
 
 And he jumped on to a chair and thence to the 
 table, but so quietly that the large black cat with 
 four white paws, called Muff, because she was so 
 fat and soft and her fur so long, who sat dozing 
 in front of the fire, just opened one eye and went 
 to sleep again. She had tried to get her nose into 
 the milk- jug, but it was too small; and the junket- 
 dish was too deep for her to reach, except with one 
 paw. She didn't care much for bread and cheese 
 and apple-pudding, and was very well fed besides; 
 so, after just wandering round the table, she had 
 jumped down from it again, and settled herself 
 to sleep on the hearth. 
 
 But Brownie had no notion of going to sleep. 
 He wanted his supper, and oh! what a supper he 
 
16 ADVENTURES OF A BROWNIE 
 
 did eat! first one thing and then another, and then 
 trying everything all over again. And oh! what 
 a lot he drank ! — first milk and then cider, and then 
 mixed the two together in a way that would have 
 disagreed with anybody except a Brownie. As it 
 was, he was obliged to slacken his belt several 
 times, and at last took it off altogether. But he 
 must have had a most extraordinary capacity for 
 eating and drinking — since, after he had nearly 
 cleared the table, he was just as lively as ever, and 
 began jumping about on the table as if he had had 
 no supper at all. 
 
 Now his jumping was a little awkward, for 
 there happened to be a clean white table-cloth: as 
 this was only Monday, it had had no time to get 
 dirty — untidy as the Cook was. And you know 
 Brownie lived in a coal-cellar, and his feet were 
 black with running about in coal dust. So wher- 
 ever he trod, he left the impression behind, until 
 at last the whole table-cloth was covered with 
 black marks. 
 
 Not that he minded this; in fact, he took great 
 pains to make the cloth as dirty as possible; and 
 then laughing loudly, "Ho, ho, ho!" leaped on to 
 the hearth, and began teasing the cat; squeaking 
 like a mouse, or chirping like a cricket, or buzzing 
 like a fly; and altogether disturbing poor Pussy's 
 mind so much, that she went and hid herself in the 
 
BROWNIE AND THE COOK 17 
 
 farthest corner, and left him the hearth all to him- 
 self, where he lay at ease till day-break. 
 
 Then, hearing a slight noise overhead, which 
 might be the servants getting up, he jumped on to 
 the table again — gobbled up the few remaining 
 crumbs for his breakfast, and scampered off to his 
 coal-cellar; where he hid himself under his big coal, 
 and fell asleep for the day. 
 
 Well, the Cook came down stairs rather earlier 
 than usual, for she remembered She had to clear 
 off the remains of supper; but lo and behold, there 
 was nothing left to clear! Every bit of food was 
 eaten up — the cheese looked as if a dozen mice 
 had been nibbling at it, and nibbled it down to the 
 very rind; the milk and cider were all drunk — and 
 mice don't care for milk and cider, you know. As 
 for the apple-pudding, it had vanished altogether; 
 and the dish was licked as clean as if Boxer, the 
 yard-dog, had been at it in his hungriest mood. 
 
 "And my white table-cloth — oh, my clean 
 white table-cloth! What can have been done to 
 it?" cried she, in amazement. For it had all over it 
 little black foot-marks, just the size of a baby's 
 foot — only babies don't wear shoes with nails in 
 them, and don't run about and climb on kitchen 
 tables after all the family have gone to bed. 
 
 Cook was a little frightened; but her fright 
 changed to anger when she saw the large black cat 
 
18 ADVENTURES OF A BROWNIE 
 
 stretched comfortably on the hearth. Poor Muff 
 had crept there for a little snooze after Brownie 
 went away. 
 
 "You horrid cat! I see it all now; it's you that 
 have eaten up all the supper; it's you that have 
 been on my clean table-cloth with your dirty 
 paws." 
 
 They were white paws, and as clean as possi- 
 ble; but Cook never thought of that, any more than 
 she did of the fact that cats don't usually drink 
 cider or eat apple-pudding*. 
 
 "I'll teach you to come stealing food in this 
 way; take that — and that — and that!" 
 
 Cook got hold of a broom and beat poor Pussy 
 till the creature ran mewing away. She couldn't 
 speak, you know — unfortunate cat! and tell people 
 that it was Brownie who had done it all. 
 
 Next night Cook thought she would make all 
 safe and sure; so, instead of letting the cat sleep 
 by the fire, she shut her up in the chilly coal-cellar, 
 locked the door, put the key in her pocket, and went 
 off to bed — leaving the supper as before. 
 
 When Brownie woke up and looked out of his 
 hole, there was, as usual, no supper for him, and 
 the cellar was close shut. He peered about, to try 
 and find some cranny under the door to creep out 
 at, but there was none. And he felt so hungry 
 
"HOW DO YOU DO, MRS. PUSSY?' 
 
20 ADVENTURES OF A BROWNIE 
 
 that he could almost have eaten the cat, who kept 
 walking to and fro in a melancholy manner — only- 
 she was alive, and he couldn't well eat her alive: 
 besides, he knew she was old, and had an idea she 
 might be tough; so he merely said, politely: "How 
 do you do, Mrs. Pussy?" to which she answered 
 nothing — of course. 
 
 Something must be done, and luckily Brown- 
 ies can do things which nobody else can do. So 
 he thought he would change himself into a mouse, 
 and gnaw a hole through the door. But then he 
 suddenly remembered the cat, who, though he had 
 decided not to eat her, might take this opportunity 
 of eating him. So he thought it advisable to wait 
 till she was fast asleep, which did not happen for 
 a good while. At length, quite tired with walking 
 about, Pussy turned round on her tail six times, 
 curled down in a corner, and fell fast asleep. 
 
 Immediately Brownie changed himself into 
 the smallest mouse possible; and, taking care not 
 to make the least noise, gnawed a hole in the door, 
 and squeezed himself through, immediately turn- 
 ing into his proper shape again, for fear of acci- 
 dents. 
 
 The kitchen fire was at its last glimmer; but 
 it showed a better supper than even last night, for 
 the Cook had had friends with her — a brother and 
 two cousins — and they had been exceedingly 
 
BROWNIE AND THE COOK 21 
 
 merry. The food they had left behind was enough 
 for three Brownies at least, but this one managed 
 to eat it all up. Only once, in trying to cut a great 
 slice of beef, he let the carving-knife and fork fall 
 with such a clatter, that Tiny the terrier, who was 
 tied up at the foot of the stairs, began to bark 
 furiously. However, he brought her her puppy, 
 which had been left in a basket in a corner of the 
 kitchen, and so succeeded in quieting her. 
 
 After that he enjoyed himself amazingly, and 
 made more marks than ever on the white table- 
 cloth; for he began jumping about like a pea on 
 a trencher, in order to make his particularly large 
 supper agree with him. 
 
 Then, in the absence of the cat, he teased the 
 puppy for an hour or two, till, hearing the clock 
 strike five, he thought it as well to turn into a 
 mouse again, and creep back cautiously into his 
 cellar. He was only just in time, for Muff opened 
 one eye, and was just going to pounce upon him, 
 when he changed himself back into a Brownie. 
 She was so startled that she bounded away, her 
 tail growing into twice its natural size, and her 
 eyes gleaming like round green globes. But 
 Brownie only said, "Ha, ha, ho!" and walked de- 
 liberately into his hole. 
 
 When Cook came down stairs and saw that 
 the same thing had happened again — that the sup- 
 
22 ADVENTURES OF A BROWNIE 
 
 per was all eaten, and the table-cloth blacker than 
 ever with the extraordinary foot-marks, she was 
 greatly puzzled. Who could have done it? Not 
 the cat, who came mewing out of the coal-cellar 
 the minute she unlocked the door. Possibly a rat — 
 but then would a rat have come within reach of 
 Tiny? 
 
 "It must have been Tiny herself, or her 
 puppy," which just came rolling out of its basket 
 over Cook's feet. "You little wretch! You and 
 your mother are the greatest nuisance imaginable. 
 I'll punish you!" 
 
 And, quite forgetting that Tiny had been 
 safely tied up all night, and that her poor little 
 puppy was so fat and helpless it could scarcely 
 stand on its legs, to say nothing of jumping on 
 chairs and tables, she gave them both such a 
 thrashing that they ran howling together out of 
 the kitchen door, where the kind little kitchen- 
 maid took them up in her arms. 
 
 "You ought to have beaten the Brownie, if 
 you could catch him," said she, in a whisper. "He'll 
 do it again and again, you'll see, for he can't bear 
 an untidy kitchen. You'd better do as poor old 
 Cook did, and clear the supper things away, and 
 put the odds and ends safe in the larder; also," 
 she added, mysteriously, "if I were you, I'd put a 
 bowl of milk behind the coal-cellar door." 
 
BROWNIE AND THE COOK 23 
 
 "Nonsense !" answered the young Cook, and 
 flounced away. But afterwards she thought bet- 
 ter of it, and did as she was advised, grumbling 
 all the time, but doing it. 
 
 Next morning the milk was gone! Perhaps 
 Brownie had drunk it up, anyhow nobody could 
 say that he hadn't. As for the supper, Cook hav- 
 ing safely laid it on the shelves of the larder, no- 
 body touched it. And the table-cloth, which was 
 wrapped up tidily and put in the dresser drawer, 
 came out as clean as ever, with not a single black 
 foot-mark upon it. No mischief being done, the 
 cat and the dog both escaped beating, and Brownie 
 played no more tricks with anybody — till the next 
 time. 
 
BROWNIE AND THE CHERRY-TREE 
 
 THE "next time" was quick in coming, which 
 was not wonderful, considering there was 
 a Brownie in the house. Otherwise the house was 
 like most other houses, and the family like most 
 other families. The children also, they were some- 
 times good, sometimes naughty, like other chil- 
 dren; but, on the whole, they deserved to have the 
 pleasure of a Brownie to play with them, as they 
 declared he did — many and many a time. 
 
 A favorite play-place was the orchard, where 
 grew the biggest cherry-tree you ever saw. They 
 called it their "castle," because it rose up ten feet 
 from the ground in one thick stem, and then 
 branched out into a circle of boughs, with a flat 
 place in the middle, where two or three children 
 could sit at once. There they often did sit, turn 
 by turn, or one at a time — sometimes with a book, 
 reading; and the biggest boy made a sort of rope- 
 ladder by which they could climb up and down — 
 which they did all winter, and enjoyed their "cas- 
 tle" very much. 
 
 But one day in spring they found their ladder 
 
 25 
 
26 ADVENTURES OF A BROWNIE 
 
 cut away! The Gardener had done it, saying it 
 injured the tree, which was just coming into blos- 
 som. Now this Gardener was a rather gruff man, 
 with a growling voice. He did not mean to be un- 
 kind, but he disliked children; he said they both- 
 ered him. But when they complained to their 
 mother about the ladder, she agreed with Garden- 
 er that the tree must not be injured, as it bore the 
 biggest cherries in all the neighborhood — so big 
 that the old saying of "taking two bites at a 
 cherry," came really true. 
 
 "Wait till the cherries are ripe," said she; and 
 so the little people waited, and watched it through 
 its leafing and blossoming — such sheets of blos- 
 som, white as snow! — till the fruit began to show, 
 and grew large and red on every bough. 
 
 At last one morning the mother said, "Chil- 
 dren, should you like to help gather the cherries 
 today?" 
 
 "Hurrah!" they cried, "and not a day too soon; 
 for we saw a flock of starlings in the next field — 
 and if we don't clear the tree, they will." 
 
 "Very well; clear it, then. Only mind and fill 
 my basket quite full, for preserving. What is over 
 you may eat, if you like." 
 
 "Thank you, thank you!" and the children 
 
BROWNIE AND THE CHERRY-TREE 27 
 
 were eager to be off; but the mother stopped them 
 till she could get the Gardener and his ladder. 
 
 "For it is he who must climb the tree, not you; 
 and you must do exactly as he tells you; and he 
 will stay with you all the time and see that you 
 don't come to harm." 
 
 This was no slight cloud on the children's hap- 
 piness, and they begged hard to go alone. 
 
 "Please, might we? We will be so good!" 
 
 The mother shook her head. All the goodness 
 in the world would not help them if they tumbled 
 off the tree, or ate themselves sick with cherries. 
 "You would not be safe, and I should be so un- 
 happy!" 
 
 To make mother "unhappy" was the worst re- 
 buke possible to these children; so they choked 
 down their disappointment, and followed the Gar- 
 dener as he walked on ahead, carrying his ladder 
 on his shoulder. He looked very cross, and as if he 
 did not like the children's company at all. 
 
 They were pretty good, on the whole, though 
 they chattered a good deal; but Gardener said not 
 a word to them all the way to the orchard. 
 
 When they reached it, he just told them to 
 "keep out of his way and not worrit him," which 
 they politely promised, saying among themselves 
 
28 ADVENTURES OF A BROWNIE 
 
 that they should not enjoy their cherry-gathering 
 at all. But children who make the best of things, 
 and try to be as good as they can, sometimes have 
 fun unawares. 
 
 When the Gardener was steadying his ladder 
 against the trunk of the cherry-tree, there was 
 suddenly heard the barking of a dog, and a very 
 fierce dog, too. First it seemed close beside them, 
 then in the flower-garden, then in the fowl-yard. 
 
 Gardener dropped the ladder out of his hands. 
 "It's that Boxer! He has gotten loose again! He 
 will be running after my chickens, and dragging 
 his broken chain all over my borders. He'll bite 
 anybody who ties him up, except me." 
 
 "Hadn't you better go and see after him?" 
 
 "Gardener thought it was the eldest boy who 
 spoke, and turned round angrily; but the little fel- 
 low had never opened his lips. 
 
 Here there was heard a still louder bark, and 
 from quite a different part of the garden. 
 
 "There he is — I'm sure of it! jumping over 
 my bedding-out plants, and breaking my cucum- 
 ber frames. Abominable beast! — just let me catch 
 him!" 
 
 Off Gardener darted in a violent passion, 
 throwing the ladder down upon the grass, and for- 
 getting all about the cherries and the children. 
 
BROWNIE AND THE CHERRY-TREE 29 
 
 The instant he was gone, a shrill laugh, loud 
 and merry, was heard close by, and a little brown 
 old man's face peeped from behind the cherry- 
 tree. 
 
 "How d'ye do? — Boxer was I. Didn't I bark 
 well? Now I've come to play with you." 
 
 The children clapped their hands; for they 
 knew they were going to have some fun if 
 Brownie was there — he was the best little play- 
 fellow in the world. And then they had him all 
 to themselves. Nobody ever saw him except the 
 children. 
 
 "Come on!" cried he, in his shrill voice, half 
 like an old man's, half like a baby's. "Who'll be- 
 gin to gather the cherries?" 
 
 They all looked blank; for the tree was so high 
 to where the branches sprung, and besides, their 
 mother had said they were not to climb. And the 
 ladder lay flat upon the grass — far too heavy for 
 little hands to move. 
 
 "What! you big boys don't expect a poor little 
 fellow like me to lift the ladder all by myself? Try! 
 I'll help you." 
 
 Whether he helped or not, no sooner had they 
 taken hold of the ladder than it rose up, almost 
 of its own accord, and fixed itself quite safely 
 against the tree. 
 
30 ADVENTURES OF A BROWNIE 
 
 "But we must not climb — mother told us not," 
 said the boys, ruefully. "Mother said we were to 
 stand at the bottom and pick up the cherries." 
 
 "Very well. Obey your mother. Til just run up 
 the tree myself." 
 
 Before the words were out of his mouth 
 Brownie had darted up the ladder like a monkey, 
 and disappeared among the fruit-laden branches. 
 
 The children looked dismayed for a minute, 
 till they saw a merry brown face peeping out from 
 the green leaves at the very top of the tree. 
 
 "Biggest fruit always grows highest," cried 
 the Brownie. "Stand in a row, all you children. Lit- 
 tle boys, hold out your caps: little girls, make a 
 bag of your pinafores. Open your mouths and 
 shut your eyes, and see what the queen will send 
 
 you." 
 
 They laughed and did as they were told; where- 
 upon they were drowned in a shower of cherries — 
 cherries falling like hailstones, hitting them on 
 their heads, their cheeks, their noses — filling their 
 caps and pinafores, and then rolling and tumbling 
 on to the grass, till it was strewn thick as leaves 
 in autumn with the rosy fruit. 
 
 What a glorious scramble they had — these 
 three little boys and three little girls! How they 
 

 V 
 /; 
 
 
 HE HELPED TO PICK UP THE CHERRIES 
 
32 ADVENTURES OF A BROWNIE 
 
 laughed and jumped and knocked heads together 
 in picking up the cherries, yet never quarreled — 
 for there were such heaps, it would have been ri- 
 diculous to squabble over them; and besides, when- 
 ever they began to quarrel, Brownie always ran 
 away. Now he was the merriest of the lot; ran up 
 and down the tree like a cat, helped to pick up 
 cherries, and was first-rate at filling the large mar- 
 ket-basket. 
 
 "We were to eat as many as we liked, only we 
 must first fill the basket," conscientiously said the 
 eldest girl; upon which they all set to at once, and 
 filled it to the brim. 
 
 "Now we'll have a dinner-party," cried the 
 Brownie; and squatted down like a Turk, crossing 
 his queer little legs, and sticking his elbows upon 
 his knees, in a way that nobody but a Brownie 
 could manage. "Sit in a ring! sit in a ring! and 
 we'll see who can eat fastest." 
 
 The children obeyed. How many cherries they 
 devoured, and how fast they did it, passes my ca- 
 pacity of telling. I only hope they were not ill next 
 day, and that all the cherry-stones they swallowed 
 by mistake did not disagree with them. But per- 
 haps nothing does disagree with one when one 
 dines with a Brownie. They ate so much, laughing 
 in equal proportion, that they had quite forgotten 
 
BROWNIE AND THE CHERRY-TREE 33 
 
 the Gardener — when, all of a sudden, they heard 
 him clicking angrily the orchard gate, and talking 
 to himself as he walked through. 
 
 "That horrid dog! It wasn't Boxer, after all. 
 A nice joke! to find him quietly asleep in his kennel 
 after having hunted him, as I thought, from one 
 end of the garden to the other! Now for the cher- 
 ries and the children — bless us, where are the chil- 
 dren? And the cherries? Why, the tree is as bare 
 as a blackthorn in February! The starlings have 
 been at it, after all. Oh dear! oh dear!" 
 
 "Oh dear! oh dear!" echoed a voice from be- 
 hind the tree, followed by shouts of mocking 
 laughter. Not from the children — they sat as de- 
 mure as possible, all in a ring, with their hands be- 
 fore them, and in the centre the huge basket of 
 cherries, piled as full as it could possibly hold. 
 But the Brownie had disappeared. 
 
 "You naughty children, I'll have you pun- 
 ished!" cried the Gardener, furious at the laughter, 
 for he never laughed himself. But as there was 
 nothing wrong; the cherries being gathered — a 
 very large crop — and the ladder found safe in its 
 place — it was difficult to say what had been the 
 harm done and who had done it. 
 
 So he went growling back to the house, carry- 
 ing the cherries to the mistress, who coaxed him 
 
34 
 
 ADVENTURES OF A BROWNIE 
 
 into good temper again, as she sometimes did; 
 bidding also the children to behave well to him, 
 since he was an old man, and not really bad — only 
 cross. As for the little folks, she had not the slight- 
 est intention of punishing them; and, as for 
 Brownie, it was impossible to catch him. So no- 
 body was punished at all. 
 
BROWNIE IN THE FARM-YARD 
 
 WHICH was a place where he did not often go, 
 for he preferred being warm and snug in 
 the house. But when he felt himself ill-used, he 
 would wander anywhere, in order to play tricks 
 upon those who he thought had done him harm; 
 for, being a Brownie, and not a man, he did not 
 understand that the best way to revenge yourself 
 upon your enemies is either to let them alone or to 
 pay them back good for evil — it disappoints them 
 so much, and makes them so exceedingly ashamed 
 of themselves. 
 
 One day Brownie overheard the Gardener ad- 
 vising the Cook to put sour milk into his bowl at 
 night, instead of sweet. 
 
 "He'd never find out the difference, no more 
 than the pigs do. Indeed, it's my belief that a pig, 
 or dog, or something, empties the bowl, and not a 
 Brownie at all. It's just clean waste — that's what 
 I say." 
 
 "Then you'd better hold your tongue, and mind 
 your own business," returned the Cook, who was 
 
 35 
 
36 ADVENTURES OF A BROWNIE 
 
 of a sharp temper, and would not stand being 
 meddled with. She began to abuse the Gardener 
 soundly; but his wife, who was standing by, took 
 his part, as she always did when any third party 
 scolded him. So they all squabbled together, till 
 Brownie, hid under his coal, put his little hands 
 over his little ears. 
 
 "Dear me, what a noise these mortals do make 
 when they quarrel ! They quite deafen me. I must 
 teach them better manners." 
 
 But when the Cook slammed the door to, and 
 left the Gardener and his wife alone, they too be- 
 gan to dispute between themselves. 
 
 "You make such a fuss over your ugly pigs, 
 and get all the scraps for them," said the wife. "It's 
 of much more importance that I should have every 
 thing Cook can spare for my chickens. Never were 
 such fine chickens as my last brood!" 
 
 "I thought they were ducklings." 
 
 "How you catch me up, you rude old man! 
 They are ducklings, and beauties, too — even 
 though they have never seen water. Where's the 
 pond you promised to make for me, I wonder?" 
 
 "Rubbish, woman! If my cows do without a 
 pond, your ducklings may. And why will you be 
 so silly as to rear ducklings at all? Fine fat chick- 
 
BROWNIE IN THE FARM-YARD 37 
 
 ens are a deal better. You'll find out your mistake 
 some day." 
 
 "And so will you when that old Alderney runs 
 dry. You'll wish you had taken my advice, and 
 fattened and sold her." 
 
 "Alderney cows won't sell for fattening, and 
 women's advice is never worth two-pence. Yours 
 isn't worth even a half-penny. What are you 
 laughing* at?" 
 
 "I wasn't laughing," said the wife, angrily; 
 and, in truth, it was not she, but little Brownie, 
 running under the barrow which the Gardener 
 was wheeling along, and very much amused that 
 people should be so silly as to squabble about noth- 
 ing. 
 
 It was still early morning; for, whatever this 
 old couple's faults might be, laziness was not one 
 of them. The wife rose with the dawn to feed her 
 poultry and collect her eggs; the husband also got 
 through as much work by breakfast-time as many 
 an idle man does by noon. But Brownie had been 
 beforehand with them this day. 
 
 When all the fowls came running to be fed, 
 the big Brahma hen who had hatched the duck- 
 lings was seen wandering forlornly about, and 
 clucking mournfully for her young brood — she 
 
TO FEED HER POULTRY AND COLLECT HER EGGS 
 
BROWNIE IN THE FARM- YARD 39 
 
 could not find them anywhere. Had she been 
 able to speak, she might have told how a large 
 white Aylesbury duck had waddled into the farm- 
 yard, and waddled out again, coaxing them after 
 her, no doubt in search of a pond. But missing 
 they were, most certainly. 
 
 "Cluck, cluck, cluck!" mourned the miserable 
 hen-mother — and, "Oh, my ducklings", my duck- 
 lings!" cried the Gardener's wife — "Who can have 
 carried off my beautiful ducklings?" 
 
 "Rats, maybe," said the Gardener, cruelly, as 
 he walked away. And as he went he heard the 
 squeak of a rat below his wheelbarrow. But he 
 could not catch it, any more tHan his wife could 
 catch the Aylesbury duck. Of course not. Both 
 were — the Brownie! 
 
 Just at this moment the six little 'people came 
 running into the farm-yard. When they had been 
 particularly good, they were sometimes allowed 
 to go with Gardener a-milking, each carrying his 
 or her own mug for a drink of milk, warm from the 
 cow. They scampered after him — a noisy tribe, 
 begging to be taken down to the field, and holding 
 out their six mugs entreatingly. 
 
 "What! six cupfuls of milk, when I haven't a 
 drop to spare, and Cook is always wanting more? 
 Ridiculous nonsense! Get along with you; you may 
 
40 ADVENTURES OF A BROWNIE 
 
 come to the field — I can't hinder that — but you'll 
 get no milk this day. Take your mugs back again 
 to the kitchen." 
 
 The poor little folks made the best of a bad 
 business, and obeyed; then they followed Gardener 
 down to the field, rather dolefully. But it was such 
 a beautiful morning that they soon recovered 
 their spirits. The grass shone with dew, like a 
 sheet of diamonds, the clover smelled so sweet, and 
 two skylarks were singing at one another high up 
 in the sky. Several rabbits darted past, to their 
 great amusement, especially one very large rab- 
 bit — brown, not gray — which dodged them in and 
 out, and once nearly threw Gardener down, pail 
 and all, by running across his feet; which set them 
 all laughing, till they came to where Dolly, the cow, 
 lay chewing the cud under a large oak-tree. 
 
 It was great fun to stir her up, as usual, and 
 lie down, one after the other, in the place where she 
 had lain all night long, making the grass flat, and 
 warm, and perfumy with her sweet breath. She 
 let them do it, and then stood meekly by; for Dolly 
 was the gentlest cow in the world. 
 
 But this morning something strange seemed 
 to possess her. She altogether refused to be milked 
 — kicked, plunged, tossed over the pail, which was 
 luckily empty. 
 
BROWNIE IN THE FARM- YARD 41 
 
 "Bless the cow! what's wrong with her? It's 
 surely you children's fault. Stand off, the whole 
 lot of you. Nice Dolly! good Dolly!" 
 
 But Dolly was anything but good. She stood 
 switching her tail, and looking as savage as so 
 mild an animal possibly could look. 
 
 "It's all your doing, you naughty children! 
 You have been playing her some trick, I know," 
 cried the Gardener, in great wrath. 
 
 They assured him they had done nothing, and, 
 indeed, they looked as quiet as mice and as inno- 
 cent as lambs. At length the biggest boy pointed 
 out a large wasp which had settled in Dolly's ear. 
 
 But it did not mend everything; for when he 
 tried to drive it away it kept coming back and 
 back again, and buzzing round his own head and 
 the cow's, with a voice that the children thought 
 was less like the buzz of a wasp than the sound 
 of a person laughing. At length it frightened 
 Dolly to such an extent that, with one wild bound 
 she darted right away, and galloped off to the 
 farther end of the field. 
 
 "That accounts for everything," said the 
 Gardener. 
 
 "I'll get a rope and tie her legs together," cried 
 the Gardener, fiercely. "She shall repent giving 
 me all this trouble — that she shall]" 
 
42 ADVENTURES OF A BROWNIE 
 
 "Ha, ha, ha!" laughed somebody. The Garde- 
 ner thought it was the children, and gave one of 
 them an angry cuff as he walked away. But they 
 knew it was somebody else, and were not at all sur- 
 prised when, the minute his back was turned, 
 Dolly came walking quietly back, led by a little wee 
 brown man who scarcely reached up to her knees. 
 Yet she let him guide her, which he did as gently 
 as possible, though the string he held her by was no 
 thicker than a spider web, floating from one of her 
 horns. 
 
 "Nice Dolly! good Dolly!" cried Brownie, mim- 
 icking the Gardener's voice. "Now we'll see what 
 we can do. I want my breakfast badly — don't you, 
 little folks?" 
 
 Of course they did, for the morning air made 
 them very hungry. 
 
 "Very well — wait a bit, though. Old people 
 should be served first, you know. Besides, I want 
 to go to bed." 
 
 Go to bed in the daylight! The children all 
 laughed, and then looked quite shy and sorry, lest 
 they might have seemed rude to the little Brownie. 
 But he — he liked fun — and never took offense 
 when none was meant. 
 
 He placed himself on the milking-stool, which 
 was so high that his little legs were dangling half- 
 
HE PLACED HIMSELF ON THE MILKING STOOL 
 
44 ADVENTURES OF A BROWNIE 
 
 way down, and milked and milked — Dolly stand- 
 ing* as still as possible — till he had filled the whole 
 pail. Most astonishing cow! she gave as much as 
 two cows; and such delicious milk as it was — all 
 frothing and yellow — richer than even Dolly's 
 milk had ever been before. The children's mouths 
 watered for it, but not a word said they — even 
 when, instead of giving it to them, Brownie put 
 his own mouth to the pail, and drank and drank, 
 till it seemed as if he were never going to stop. 
 But it was decidedly a relief to them when he 
 popped his head up again, and lo! the pail was as 
 full as ever! 
 
 "Now, little ones, now's your turn. Where 
 are your mugs?" 
 
 All answered mournfully, "WeVe got none. 
 Gardener made us take them back again." 
 
 "Never mind — all right. Gather me half a 
 dozen of the biggest buttercups you can find." 
 
 "What nonsense!" thought the children; but 
 they did it. Brownie laid the flowers in a row upon 
 the eldest girl's lap — blew upon them one by one, 
 and each turned into the most beautiful golden cup 
 that ever was seen ! 
 
 "Now, then, every one take his own mug, and 
 I'll fill it." 
 
BROWNIE IN THE FARM- YARD 45 
 
 He milked away — each child got a drink, and 
 then the cups were filled again. And all the while 
 Dolly stood as quiet as possible — looking benignly 
 round, as if she would be happy to supply milk to 
 the whole parish, if the Brownie desired it. 
 
 "Nice Dolly! Thank you, Dolly !" said he, again, 
 mimicking the Gardener's voice, half growling, 
 half coaxing. And while he spoke, the real voice 
 was heard behind the hedge. There was a sound 
 as of a great wasp flying away, which made Dolly 
 prick up her ears, and look as if the old savageness 
 was coming back upon her. The children snatched 
 up their mugs, but there was no need, they had all 
 turned into buttercups again. 
 
 Gardener jumped over the stile, as cross as two 
 sticks, with an old rope in his hand. 
 
 "Oh, what a bother I've had. Breakfast ready, 
 and no milk yet — and such a row as they are mak- 
 ing over those lost ducklings. Stand back, you 
 children, and don't hinder me a minute. No use 
 begging — not a drop of milk shall you get. Hello, 
 Dolly? Quiet, old girl!" 
 
 Quiet enough she was this time — but you 
 might as well have milked a plaster cow in a Lon- 
 don milkshop. Not one ringing drop resounded 
 against the empty pail; for, when they peeped in, 
 
46 ADVENTURES OF A BROWNIE 
 
 the children saw, to their amazement, that it was 
 empty. 
 
 "The creature's bewitched!" cried the Garde- 
 ner, in a great fury. "Or else somebody has milked 
 her dry already. Have you done it? or you?" he 
 asked each of the children. 
 
 They might have said No — which was the lit- 
 eral truth — but then it would not have been the 
 whole truth, for they knew quite well that Dolly 
 had been milked, and also who had done it. And 
 their mother had always taught them that to make 
 a person believe a lie is nearly as bad as telling 
 him one. Yet still they did not like to betray the 
 kind little Brownie. Greatly puzzled, they hung 
 their heads and said nothing. 
 
 "Look in your pail again," cried a voice from 
 the other side of Dolly. And there at the bottom 
 was just the usual quantity of milk — no more and 
 no less. 
 
 The Gardener was very much astonished. "It 
 must be the Brownie!" muttered he, in a frightened 
 tone, and, taking off his hat, "Thank you, sir," 
 said he to Mr. Nobody — at which the children all 
 burst out laughing. But they kept their own coun- 
 sel, and he was afraid to ask them any more ques- 
 tions. 
 
BROWNIE IN THE FARM- YARD 47 
 
 By-and-by his fright wore off a little. "I only 
 hope the milk is good milk, and will poison no- 
 body," said he, sulkily. "However, that's not my 
 affair. You children had better tell your mother 
 all about it. I left her in the farm-yard in a pretty 
 state of mind about her ducklings." 
 
 Perhaps Brownie heard this, and was sorry, 
 for he liked the children's mother, who had always 
 been kind to him. Besides, he never did anybody 
 harm who did not deserve it; and though, being a 
 Brownie, he could hardly be said to have a con- 
 science, he had something which stood in the place 
 of one — a liking to see people happy rather than 
 miserable. 
 
 So, instead of going to bed under his big coal 
 for the day, when, after breakfast, the children 
 and their mother came out to look at a new brood 
 of chickens, he crept after them and hid behind 
 the hen-coop where the old mother-hen was put, 
 with her young ones round her. 
 
 There had been great difficulty in getting her 
 in there, for she was a hen who hatched her brood 
 on independent principles. Instead of sitting upon 
 the nice nest that Gardener made for her, she had 
 twice gone into a little wood close by and made a 
 nest for herself, which nobody could ever find; 
 and where she hatched in secret, coming every 
 
SHE HAD MADE A NEST FOR HERSELF 
 
BROWNIE IN THE FARM- YARD 49 
 
 second day to be fed, and then vanishing again, 
 till at last she re-appeared in triumph, with her 
 chickens running after her. In the first brood there 
 had been twelve, but of this there were fourteen — 
 all from her own eggs, of course, and she was un- 
 commonly proud of them. So was the Gardener, 
 so was the mistress — who liked all young things. 
 
 Such a picture as they were! fourteen soft, yel- 
 low, fluffy things, running about after their 
 mother. It had been a most troublesome business 
 to catch — first her, and then them, to put them 
 under the coop. The old hen resisted, and pecked 
 furiously at Gardener's legs, and the chickens ran 
 about in frantic terror, chirping wildly in answer 
 to her clucking. 
 
 At last, however, the little family was safe in 
 shelter, and the chickens counted over, to see that 
 none had been lost in the scuffle. How funny they 
 were! looking so innocent and yet so wise, as 
 chickens do — peering out at the world from under 
 their mother's wing, or hopping over her back, or 
 snuggled all together under her breast, so that 
 nothing was seen of them but a mass of yellow 
 legs, like a great centipede. 
 
 "How happy the old hen is," said the children's 
 mother, looking on, and then looking compassion- 
 ately at that other forlorn old hen, who had 
 
50 ADVENTURES OF A BROWNIE 
 
 hatched the ducklings, and kept wandering about 
 the farm-yard, clucking miserably, "Those poor 
 ducklings, what can have become of them? If rats 
 had killed them, we should have found feathers or 
 something; and weasels would have sucked their 
 brains and left them. They must have been stolen, 
 or wandered away, and died of cold and hunger— 
 my poor ducklings!" 
 
 The mistress sighed, for she could not bear 
 any living thing to suffer. And the children nearly 
 cried at the thought of what might be happening 
 to their pretty ducklings. That very minute a lit- 
 tle wee brown face peered through a hole in the 
 hen-coop, making the old mother-hen fly furiously 
 at it — as she did at the slightest shadow of an ene- 
 my to her little ones. However, no harm happened 
 — only a guinea-fowl suddenly ran across the 
 farm-yard, screaming in its usualharsh voice. But 
 it was not the usual sort of a guinea-fowl, being 
 larger and handsomer than any of theirs. 
 
 "Oh, what a beauty of a creature! how did it 
 ever come into our farm-yard/' cried the delight- 
 ed children; and started off after it, to catch it, if 
 possible. 
 
 But they ran, and they ran — through the gate 
 and out into the lane; and the guinea-fowl still ran 
 on before them, until, turning round a corner, they 
 
BROWNIE IN THE FARM- YARD 51 
 
 lost sight of it, and immediately saw something 
 else, equally curious. Sitting on the top of a big 
 thistle — so big that he must have had to climb it 
 just like a tree — was the Brownie. His legs were 
 crossed, and his arms too; his little brown cap was 
 stuck knowingly on one side, and he was laughing 
 heartily. 
 
 "How do you do? Here I am again. I thought 
 I wouldn't go to bed after all. Shall I help you to 
 find the ducklings? Very well! come along." 
 
 They crossed the field, Brownie running beside 
 them, and as fast as they could, though he looked 
 such an old man; and sometimes turning over on 
 legs and arms like a Catherine wheel — which they 
 tried to imitate, but generally failed, and only 
 bruised their fingers and noses. 
 
 He lured them on and on till they came to the 
 wood, and to a green path in it, which, well as they 
 knew the neighborhood, none of the children had 
 ever seen before. It led to a most beautiful pond, 
 as clear as crystal and as blue as the sky. Large 
 trees grew round it, dipping their branches in the 
 water, (as if they were looking at themselves in a 
 glass. And all about their roots were quantities of 
 primroses — the biggest primroses the little girls 
 had ever seen. Down they dropped on their fat 
 knees, crushing more primroses than they gath- 
 
52 ADVENTURES OF A BROWNIE 
 
 ered, though they tried to gather them all; and the 
 smallest child even began to cry because her hands 
 were so full that the flowers dropped through her 
 fingers. But the boys, older and more practical, 
 rather despised primroses. 
 
 "I thought we had come to look for ducklings," 
 said the eldest. Mother is fretting dreadfully 
 about her ducklings. Where can they be?" 
 
 "Shut your eyes, and you'll see," said the 
 Brownie, at which they all laughed, but did it; and 
 when they opened their eyes again, what should 
 they behold but a whole brood of ducklings sail- 
 ing out from the roots of an old willow-tree, one 
 after the other, looking as fat and content as possi- 
 ble, and swimming as naturally as if they had lived 
 on a pond — and this particular pond, all their days. 
 
 "Count them," said the Brownie, "the whole 
 eight — quite correct. And then try and catch them 
 — if you can." 
 
 Easier said than done. The boys set to work 
 with great satisfaction — boys do so enjoy hunting 
 something. They coaxed them — they shouted at 
 them — they threw little sticks at them; but as soon 
 as they wanted them to go one way the ducklings 
 immediately turned round and sailed another way, 
 doing it so deliberately and majestically, that the 
 children could not help laughing. As for little 
 
BROWNIE IN THE FARM- YARD 53 
 
 Brownie, he sat on a branch of the willow-tree, with 
 his legs dangling down to the surface of the pond, 
 kicking at the water-spiders, and grinning with all 
 his might. At length, quite tired out, in spite of 
 their fun, the children begged for his help, and he 
 took compassion on them. 
 
 "Turn round three times and see what you can 
 find," shouted he. 
 
 Immediately each little boy found in his arms, 
 and each little girl in her pinafore, a fine fat duck- 
 ling. And there being eight of them, the two elder 
 children had each a couple. They were rather cold 
 and damp, and slightly uncomfortable to cuddle, 
 ducks not being used to cuddling. Poor things! 
 they struggled hard to get away. But the children 
 hugged them tight, and ran as fast as their legs 
 could carry them through the wood, forgetting, in 
 their joy, even to say "Thank you" to the little 
 Brownie. 
 
 When they reached their mother she was as 
 glad as they, for she never thought to see her duck- 
 lings again; and to have them back all alive and 
 uninjured, and watch them running to the old hen, 
 who received them with an ecstasy of delight, was 
 so exciting, that nobody thought of asking a single 
 question as to where they had been found. 
 
 When the mother did ask, the children told 
 her all about Brownie's taking them to the beauti- 
 
54 ADVENTURES OF A BROWNIE 
 
 ful pond — and what a wonderful pond it was; how 
 green the trees were round it; and how large the 
 primroses grew. They never tired of talking about 
 it and seeking for it. But the odd thing was that, 
 seek as they might, they never could find it again. 
 Many a day did the little people roam about one by 
 one, or all together, round the wood, and across 
 the wood, and up and down the wood, often getting 
 themselves sadly draggled with mud and torn 
 with brambles — but the beautiful pond they never 
 found again. 
 
 Nor did the ducklings, I suppose; for they 
 wandered no more from the farm-yard, to the old 
 mother-hen's great content. They grew up into 
 fat and respectable ducks — five white ones and 
 three gray ones — waddling about, very content, 
 though they never saw water, except the tank 
 which was placed for them to paddle in. They lived 
 a lazy, peaceful, pleasant life for a long time, and 
 were at last killed and eaten with green peas, one 
 after the other, to the family's great satisfaction, 
 if not their own. 
 
HE WAS NO BIGGER THAN A DONKEY 
 
BROWNIE'S RIDE 
 
 FOR the little Brownie, though not given to 
 horsemanship, did once take a ride, and a very 
 remarkable one it was. Shall I tell you all about it? 
 
 The six little children got a present of some- 
 thing they had longed for all their lives — a pony. 
 Not a rocking-horse, but a real live pony — a Shet- 
 land pony, too, which had traveled all the way from 
 the Shetland Isles to Devonshire — where every- 
 body wondered at it, for such a creature had not 
 been seen in the neighborhood for years and years. 
 
 She was no bigger than a donkey, and her coat, 
 instead of being smooth like a horsed, was shaggy 
 like a young bear's. She had a long tail, which had 
 never been cut, and such a deal of hair in her mane 
 and over her eyes that it gave her quite a fierce 
 countenance. In fact, among the mild and tame 
 Devonshire beasts, the little Shetland pony looked 
 almost like a wild animal. But in reality she was 
 the gentlest creature in the world. 
 
 Before she had been many days with them, she 
 began to know the children quite well; followed 
 them about, ate corn out of the bowl they held out 
 
 57 
 
58 ADVENTURES OF A BROWNIE 
 
 to her; nay, one day, when the eldest little girl of- 
 fered her bread-and-butter, she stooped her head 
 and took it from the child's hand, just like a young 
 lady. Indeed, Jess — that was her name — was al- 
 together so lady-like in her behavior, that more 
 than once Cook allowed her to walk in at the back 
 door, where she stood politely warming her nose at 
 the kitchen fire for a minute or two, then turned 
 round and as politely walked out again. But she 
 never did any mischief; and was so quiet and gen- 
 tle a creature that she bade fair soon to become 
 as great a pet in the household as the dog, the cat, 
 the kittens, the puppies, the fowls, the ducks, the 
 cow, the pig, and all the other members of the 
 family. 
 
 The only one who disliked her, and grumbled 
 at her, was the Gardener. This was odd; because, 
 though cross to children, the old man was kind to 
 dumb beasts. Even his pig knew his voice and 
 grunted, and held out his nose to be scratched; and 
 he always gave each successive pig a name, Jack or 
 Dick, and called them by it, and was quite affection- 
 ate to them, one after the other, until the very day 
 that they were killed. But they were English pigs 
 — and the pony was Scotch — and the Devonshire 
 Gardener hated everything Scotch, he said; be- 
 sides, he was not used to groom's work, and the 
 pony required such a deal of grooming on account 
 
BROWNIE'S RIDE 59 
 
 of her long hair. More than once Gardener threat- 
 ened to clip it short, and turn her into a regular 
 English pony but the children were in such distress 
 at this that the mistress and mother forbade any- 
 such spoiling of Jess' personal appearance. 
 
 At length, to keep things smooth, and to avoid 
 the rough words and even blows which poor Jess 
 sometimes got, they sought in the village for a boy 
 to look after her, and found a great rough, shock- 
 headed lad named Bill, who, for a few shillings a 
 week, consented to come up every morning and 
 learn the beginning of a groom's business; hoping 
 to end, as his mother said he should, in sitting, 
 like the squire's fat coachman, as broad as he was 
 long, on the top of the hammer-cloth of a grand 
 carriage, and do nothing all day but drive a pair of 
 horses as stout as himself a few miles along the 
 road and back again. 
 
 Bill would have liked this very much, he 
 thought, if he could have been a coachman all at 
 once, for if there was one thing he disliked, it was 
 work. He much preferred to lie in the sun all day 
 and do nothing; and he only agreed to come and 
 take care of Jess because she was such a very little 
 pony, that looking after her seemed next door 
 to doing nothing. But when he tried it, he found 
 his mistake. True, Jess was a very gentle beast; 
 so quiet that the old mother-hen with fourteen 
 
60 ADVENTURES OF A BROWNIE 
 
 chicks used, instead of roosting with the rest of the 
 fowls, to come regularly into the portion of the 
 cow-shed which was partitioned off for a stable, 
 and settle under a corner of Jess' manger for the 
 night; and in the morning the chicks would be seen 
 running about fearlessly among her feet and under 
 her very nose. 
 
 But, for all that, she required a little manage- 
 ment, for she did not like her long hair to be rough- 
 ly handled; it took a long time to clean her; and, 
 though she did not scream out like some silly little 
 children when her hair was combed, I am afraid 
 she sometimes kicked and bounced about, giving 
 Bill a deal of trouble— all the more trouble, the 
 more impatient Bill was. 
 
 And then he had to keep within call, for the 
 children wanted their pony at all hours. She was 
 their own especial property, and they insisted upon 
 learning to ride — even before they got a saddle. 
 Hard work it was to stick on Jess' bare back, but 
 by degrees the boys did it, turn and turn about, 
 and even gave their sisters a turn too — a very little 
 one — just once round the field and back again, 
 which was quite enough, they considered, for girls. 
 But they were very kind to their little sisters, held 
 them on so that they could not fall, and led Jess 
 carefully and quietly and altogether behaved as 
 elder brothers should. 
 
BROWNIE'S RIDE 61 
 
 Nor did they squabble very much among 
 themselves, though sometimes it was rather diffi- 
 cult to keep their turns all fair, and remember ac- 
 curately which was which. But they did their best, 
 being, on the whole, extremely good children. And 
 they were so happy to have their pony, that they 
 would have been ashamed to quarrel over her. 
 
 Also, one very curious thing kept them on 
 their good behavior. Whenever they did begin to 
 misconduct themselves — to want to ride out of 
 their turns, or to domineer over one another, or the 
 boys, joining together, tried to domineer over the 
 girls, as I grieve to say boys often do — they used to 
 hear in the air, right over their heads, the crack 
 of an unseen whip. It was none of theirs, for they 
 did not own a whip; that was a felicity which their 
 father had promised when they could all ride like 
 young gentlemen and ladies; but there was no mis- 
 taking the sound — indeed, it always startled Jess 
 so that she set off galloping, and could not be 
 caught again for many minutes. 
 
 This happened several times, until one of them 
 said, "Perhaps it's the Brownie." Whether it was 
 or not, it made them behave better for a good 
 while; till one unfortunate day the two eldest be- 
 gan contending which should ride foremost and 
 which hindmost on Jess's back, when "Crick — 
 crack!" went the whip in the air, frightening the 
 
62 ADVENTURES OF A BROWNIE 
 
 pony so much that she kicked up her heels, tossed 
 both the boys over her head, and scampered off, 
 followed by a loud "Ha, ha, ha!" 
 
 It certainly did not come from the two boys, 
 who had fallen — quite safely, but rather unpleas- 
 antly — into a large nettle-bed; whence they 
 crawled out, rubbing their arms and legs, and look- 
 ing too much ashamed to complain. But they were 
 rather frightened and a little cross, for Jess took 
 a skittish fit, and refused to be caught and mount- 
 ed again, till the bell rang for school — when she 
 grew as meek as possible. Too late — for the chil- 
 dren were obliged to run indoors, and go no more 
 rides for the whole day. 
 
 Jess was from this incident supposed to be on 
 the same friendly terms with Brownie as were the 
 rest of the household. Indeed, when she came, the 
 children had taken care to lead her up to the coal- 
 cellar door and introduce her properly — for they 
 knew Brownie was very jealous of strangers, and 
 often played them tricks. But after that piece of 
 civility he would be sure, they thought, to take her 
 under his protection. And sometimes, when the 
 little Shetlander was restless and pricked up her 
 ears, looking preternaturally wise under those 
 shaggy brows of hers, the children used to say 
 to one another, "Perhaps she sees the Brownie." 
 
 Whether she did or not, Jess sometimes seemed 
 
 t 
 
BROWNIE'S RIDE 63 
 
 to see a good deal that others did not see, and was 
 apparently a favorite with the Brownie, for she 
 grew and thrived so much that she soon became 
 the pride and delight of the children and of the 
 whole family. You would hardly have known her 
 for the rough, shaggy, half-starved little beast 
 that had arrived a few weeks before. Her coat 
 was so silky, her limbs so graceful, and her head 
 so full of intelligence, that everybody admired her. 
 Then, even Gardener began to admire her too. 
 
 "I think Til get upon her back; it will save me 
 walking down to the village," said he, one day. 
 And she actually carried him — though, as his feet 
 nearly touched the ground, it looked as if the man 
 were carrying the pony, and not the pony the man. 
 And the children laughed so immoderately, that 
 he never tried it afterward. 
 
 Nor Bill neither, though he had once thought 
 he should like a ride, and got astride on Jess; but 
 she quickly ducked her head down, and he tumbled 
 over it. Evidently she had her own tastes as to her 
 riders, and much preferred little people to big ones. 
 
 Pretty Jess! when cantering round the pad- 
 dock with the young folk, she really was quite a 
 picture. And when at last she got a saddle — a new, 
 beautiful saddle, with a pommel to take off and on, 
 so as to suit both boys and girls — how proud they 
 all were, Jess included! That day they were al- 
 
64 ADVENTURES OF A BROWNIE 
 
 lowed to take her into the market-town — Gardener 
 leading her, as Bill could not be trusted — and 
 everybody, even the blacksmith, who hoped by- 
 and-by to have the pleasure of shoeing her, said, 
 what a beautiful pony she was! 
 
 After this, Gardener treated Jess a great deal 
 better, and showed Bill how to groom her, and 
 kept him close at it too, which Bill did not like at 
 all. He was a very lazy lad, and whenever he could 
 shirk work he did it; and many a time when the 
 children wanted Jess, either there was nobody to 
 saddle her, or she had not been properly groomed, 
 or Bill was away at his dinner, and they had to 
 wait till he came back and could put her in order 
 to be taken out for a ride like a genteel animal — 
 which I am afraid neither pony nor children en- 
 joyed half so much as the old ways before Bill 
 came. 
 
 Still, they were gradually becoming excellent 
 little horsemen and horsewomen — even the young- 
 est, only four years old, over whom all the rest 
 were very tender and who was often held on Jess' 
 back and given a ride out of her turn because she 
 was a good little girl, and never cried for it. And 
 seldomer and seldomer was heard the mysterious 
 sound of the whip in the air, which warned them 
 of quarreling — Brownie hated quarreling. 
 
 In fact, their only trouble was Bill, who never 
 
BROWNIE'S RIDE 65 
 
 came to his work in time, and never did things 
 when wanted, and was ill-natured, lazy, and cross 
 to the children, so that they disliked him very 
 much. 
 
 "I wish the Brownie would punish you," said 
 one of the boys; "you'd behave better then." 
 
 "The Brownie!" cried Bill, contemptuously: 
 "if I caught him, I'd kick him up in the air like 
 
 this!" 
 
 And he kicked up his cap — his only cap, it was 
 — which, strange to relate, flew right up, ever so 
 high, and lodged at the very top of a tree which 
 overhung the stable, where it dangled for weeks 
 and weeks, during which time poor Bill had to go 
 bareheaded. 
 
 He was very much vexed, and revenged him- 
 self by vexing the children in all sorts of ways. 
 They would have told their mother, and asked her 
 to send Bill away, only she had a great many 
 anxieties just then, for their dear old grandmoth- 
 er was very ill, and they did not like to make a fuss 
 about anything that would trouble her. 
 
 So Bill stayed on, and nobody found out what 
 a bad, ill-natured, lazy boy he was. 
 
 But one day the mother was sent for sudden- 
 ly, not knowing when she should be able to come 
 home again. She was very sad, and so were the 
 
66 ADVENTURES OF A BROWNIE 
 
 children, for they loved their grandmother — and 
 as the carriage drove off they all stood crying 
 round the front door for ever so long. 
 
 The servants even cried too — all but Bill. 
 
 "It's an ill wind that blows nobody good," said 
 he. "What a jolly time I shall have! I'll do noth- 
 ing all day long. Those troublesome children 
 sha'n't have Jess to ride; I'll keep her in the stable, 
 and then she won't get dirty, and I shall have no 
 trouble in cleaning her. Hurrah! what fun!" 
 
 He put his hands in his pockets, and sat 
 whistling the best part of the afternoon. 
 
 The children had been so unhappy, that for 
 that day they quite forgot Jess; but next morning, 
 after lessons were over, they came begging for a 
 ride. 
 
 "You can't get one. The stable door's locked, 
 and I've lost the key." (He had it in his pocket all 
 the time.) 
 
 "How is poor Jess to^get her dinner?" cried a 
 thoughtful little girl. "Oh, how hungry she will 
 be!" 
 
 And the child was quite in distress, as were 
 the two other girls. But the boys were more angry 
 than sorry. 
 
 "It was very stupid of you, Bill, to lose the key. 
 
BROWNIE'S RIDE 67 
 
 Look about and find it, or else break open the 
 door." 
 
 "I won't," said Bill; "I dare say the key will 
 turn up before night, and if it doesn't, who cares? 
 You get riding enough and too much. I'll not both- 
 er myself about it, or Jess either." 
 
 And Bill sauntered away. He was a big fellow, 
 and the little lads were rather afraid of him. But 
 as he walked, he could not keep his hand out of his 
 trousers-pocket, where the key grew heavier 
 and heavier, till he expected it every minute to 
 tumble through and come out at his boots — con- 
 victing him before all the children of having told 
 a lie. 
 
 Nobody was in the habit of telling lies to them, 
 so they never suspected him, but went innocently 
 searching about for the key — Bill all the while 
 clutching it fast. But every time he touched it, he 
 felt his fingers pinched, as if there was a cock- 
 roach in his pocket — or a little lobster — or some- 
 thing, anyhow, that had claws. At last, fairly 
 frightened, he made an excuse to go into the cow- 
 shed, took the key out of his pocket and looked at 
 it, and finally hid it in a corner of the manger, 
 among the hay. 
 
 As he did so, he heard a most extraordinary 
 laugh, which was certainly not from Dolly the cow, 
 
HE TALKED WITH THE GARDENER'S WIFE 
 
BROWNIE'S RIDE 69 
 
 and, as he went out of the shed, he felt the same 
 sort of pinch at his ankles, which made him so 
 angry that he kept striking with his whip in all 
 directions, but hit nobody, for nobody was there. 
 
 But Jess — who, as soon as she heard the chil- 
 dren's voices, had set up a most melancholy whin- 
 nying behind the locked stable door — began to 
 neigh energetically. And Boxer barked, and the 
 hens cackled, and the guinea-fowls cried "Come 
 back, come back!" in their insane fashion — indeed, 
 the whole farm-yard seemed in such an excited 
 state, that the children got frightened lest Garde- 
 ner should scold them, and ran away, leaving Bill 
 master of the field. 
 
 What an idle day he had! How he sat on the 
 wall with his hands in his pockets, and lounged 
 upon the fence, and sauntered round the garden! 
 At length, absolutely tired of doing nothing, he 
 went and talked with the Gardener's wife while 
 she was hanging out her clothes. Gardener had 
 gone down to the lower field, with all the little folks 
 after him, so that he knew nothing of Bill's idling, 
 or it might have come to an end. 
 
 By-and-by Bill thought it was time to go home 
 to his supper. "But first I'll give Jess her corn," 
 said he, "double quantity, and then I need not come 
 back to give her her breakfast so early in the morn- 
 
70 ADVENTURES OF A BROWNIE 
 
 ing. There! you greedy beast! I'll be at you pres- 
 ently, if you don't stop that noise." 
 
 For Jess, at sound of his footsteps, was heard 
 to whinny in the most imploring manner, enough 
 to have melted a heart of stone. 
 
 "The key— where on earth did I put the key?" 
 cried Bill, whose constant habit it was to lay things 
 out of his hand and then forget where he had put 
 them, causing himself endless loss of time in 
 searching for them — as now. At last he suddenly 
 remembered the corner of the cow's manger, where 
 he felt sure he had left it. But the key was not 
 there. 
 
 "You can't have eaten it, you silly old cow," 
 said he, striking Dolly on the nose as she rubbed 
 herself against him — she was an affectionate 
 beast. "Nor you, you stupid old hen!" kicking the 
 mother of the brood, who, with her fourteen chicks, 
 being shut out of their usual roosting-place — 
 Jess's stable — kept pecking about under Dolly's 
 legs. "It can't have gone without hands — of course 
 it can't." But most certainly the key was gone. 
 
 What in the world should Bill do? Jess kept 
 on making a pitiful complaining. No wonder, as 
 she had not tasted food since morning. It would 
 have made any kind-hearted person quite sad to 
 hear her, thinking how exceedingly hungry the 
 poor pony must be. 
 
BROWNIE'S RIDE 71 
 
 Little did Bill care for that, or for anything, 
 except that he should be sure to get into trouble 
 as soon as he was found out. When he heard 
 Gardener coming into the farm-yard, with the chil- 
 dren after him, Bill bolted over the wall like a flash 
 of lightning, and ran away home, leaving poor 
 Jess to her fate. 
 
 All the way he seemed to hear at his heels a 
 little dog yelping, and then a swarm of gnats 
 buzzing round his head, and altogether was so per- 
 plexed and bewildered, that when he got into his 
 mother's cottage he escaped into bed, and pulled 
 the blanket over his ears to shut out the noise of 
 the dog and the gnats, which at last turned into a 
 sound like somebody laughing. It was not his 
 mother, she didn't often laugh, poor soul! — Bill 
 bothered her quite too much for that, and he knew 
 it. Dreadfully frightened, he hid his head under 
 the bed-clothes, determined to go to sleep and think 
 about nothing till next day. 
 
 Meantime Gardener returned, with all the lit- 
 tle people trooping after him. He had been rather 
 kinder to them than usual this day, because he 
 knew their mother had gone away in trouble, and 
 now he let them help him to roll the gravel, and 
 fetch up Dolly to be milked, and watch him milk 
 her in the cow-shed — where, it being nearly win- 
 ter, she always spent the night now. They were 
 
72 ADVENTURES OF A BROWNIE 
 
 so well amused that they forgot all about their dis- 
 appointment as to the ride, and Jess did not re- 
 mind them of it by her whinnying. For as soon as 
 Bill was gone she grew quite silent. 
 
 At last one little girl, the one who had cried 
 over Jess' being left hungry, remembered the poor 
 pony, and, peeping through a crevice in the cow- 
 shed, saw her stand contentedly munching at a 
 large bowlful of corn. 
 
 "So Bill did find the key. I'm very glad," 
 thought the kind little maiden, and to make sure 
 looked again, when — what do you think she beheld 
 squatting on the manger? Something brown — 
 either a large brown rat, or a small brown man. 
 But she held her tongue, since, being a very little 
 girl, people sometimes laughed at her for the 
 strange things she saw. She was quite certain 
 she did see them, for all that. 
 
 So she and the rest of the children went in- 
 doors and to bed. When they were fast asleep, 
 something happened. Something so curious, that 
 the youngest boy, who, thinking he heard Jess 
 neighing, got up to look out, was afraid to tell, lest 
 he too should be laughed at, and went back to bed 
 immediately. 
 
 In the middle of the night, a little old brown 
 man carrying a lantern, or at least having a light 
 
BROWNIE'S RIDE 73 
 
 in his hand that looked like a lantern — went and 
 unlocked Jess' stable, and patted her pretty head. 
 At first she started, but soon she grew quiet and 
 pleased, and let him do what he chose with her. 
 He began rubbing her down, making the same 
 funny hissing with his mouth that Bill did, and all 
 grooms do — I never could find out why. But Jess 
 evidently liked it, and stood as good as possible. 
 
 "Isn't it nice to be clean?" said the wee man, 
 talking to her as if she were a human being, or a 
 Brownie. "And I dare say your poor little legs ache 
 with standing still so long. Shall we have a run 
 together? The moon shines bright in the clear, cold 
 night. Dear me! I'm talking poetry." 
 
 But Brownies are not poetical fairies, quite 
 commonplace, and up to all sorts of work. So, while 
 he talked, he was saddling and bridling Jess, she 
 not objecting in the least. Finally, he jumped on 
 her back. 
 
 " 'Off, said the stranger — off, off, and away!' " 
 sang Brownie, mimicking a song of the Cook's. 
 People in that house often heard their songs re- 
 peated in the oddest way, from room to room, 
 everybody fancying it was somebody else that did 
 it. But it was only the Brownie. "Now, 'A south- 
 erly wind and a cloudy sky proclaim it a hunting 
 morning !' " 
 
74 ADVENTURES OF A BROWNIE 
 
 Or night — for it was the middle of the night, 
 though bright as day — and Jess galloped and the 
 Brownie sat on her back as merrily as if they had 
 gone hunting together all their days. 
 
 Such a steeple-chase it was! They cleared the 
 farm-yard at a single bound, and went flying down 
 the road, and across the ploughed field, and into the 
 wood. Then out into the open country, and by-and- 
 by into a dark, muddy lane — and oh! how muddy 
 Devonshire lanes can be sometimes! 
 
 "Let's go into the water to wash ourselves/' 
 said Brownie, and coaxed Jess into a deep stream, 
 which she swam as bravely as possible — she had 
 not had such a frolic since she left her native Shet- 
 land Isles. Up the bank she scrambled, her long 
 hair dripping as if she had been a water-dog in- 
 stead of a pony. Brownie, too, shook himself like 
 a rat or a beaver, throwing a shower round him 
 in all directions. 
 
 "Never mind; at it again, my lass!" and he 
 urged Jess into the water once more. Out she came, 
 wetter and brisker than ever, and went back home 
 through the lane, and the wood, and the ploughed 
 field, galloping like the wind, and tossing back her 
 ears and mane and tail, perfectly frantic with en- 
 joyment. 
 
 But when she reached her stable, the plight 
 
BROWNIE'S RIDE 75 
 
 she was in would have driven any respectable 
 groom frantic too. Her sides were white with 
 foam, and the mud was sticking all over her like 
 a plaster. As for her beautiful long hair, it was 
 all caked together in a tangle, as if all the combs 
 in the world would never make it smooth again. 
 Her mane especially was plaited into knots, which 
 people in Devonshire call elf-locks, and say, when 
 they find them on their horses, that it is because 
 the fairies have been riding them. 
 
 Certainly, poor Jess had been pretty well rid- 
 den that night! When, just as the dawn began 
 to break, Gardener got up and looked into the 
 farm-yard, his sharp eye caught sight of the stable 
 door, wide open. 
 
 "Well done, Bill," shouted he, "up early at last. 
 One hour before breakfast is worth three after." 
 
 But no Bill was there; only Jess, trembling and 
 shaking, all in a foam, and muddy from head to 
 foot, but looking perfectly cheerful in her mind. 
 And out from under her fore legs ran a small 
 creature, which Gardener mistook for Tiny, only 
 Tiny was gray, and this dog was brown, of course! 
 
 I should not like to tell you all that was said 
 to Bill when, an hour after breakfast-time, he 
 came skulking up to the farm. In fact, words fail- 
 ing, Gardener took a good stick and laid it about 
 
76 ADVENTURES OF A BROWNIE 
 
 BilPs shoulders, saying he would either do this, or 
 tell the mistress of him, and how he had left the 
 stable-door open all night, and some bad fellow had 
 stolen Jess, and galloped her all across the coun- 
 try, till, if she hadn't been the cleverest pony in 
 the world, she never could have gotten back again. 
 
 Bill dared not contradict this explanation of 
 the story, especially as the key was found hanging 
 up in its proper place by the kitchen door. And 
 when he went to fetch it, he heard the most ex- 
 traordinary sound in the coal-cellar close by — like 
 somebody snoring or laughing. Bill took to his 
 heels, and did not come back for a whole hour. 
 
 But when he did come back, he made himself 
 as busy as possible. He cleaned Jess, which was 
 half a day's work at least. Then he took the little 
 people for a ride, and afterward put his stable in 
 the most beautiful order, and altogether was such 
 a changed Bill, that Gardener told him he must 
 have left himself at home and brought back some- 
 body else: whether or not, the boy certainly im- 
 proved, so that there was less occasion to find fault 
 with him afterward. 
 
 Jess lived to be quite an old pony, and carried 
 a great many people — little people always, for she 
 herself never grew any bigger. But I don't think 
 she ever carried a Brownie again. 
 
BROWNIE ON THE ICE 
 
 WINTER was a grand time with the six little 
 children, especially when they had frost and 
 snow. This happened seldom enough for it to be 
 the greatest possible treat when it did happen, and 
 it never lasted very long, for the winters are warm 
 in Devonshire. 
 
 There was a little lake three fields off, which 
 made the most splendid sliding-place imaginable. 
 No skaters went near it — it was not large enough; 
 and besides, there was nobody to skate, the neigh- 
 borhood being lonely. The lake itself looked the 
 loneliest place imaginable. It was not very deep — 
 not deep enough to drown a man — but it had a 
 gravelly bottom, and was always very clear. Also, 
 the trees round it grew so thick that they sheltered 
 it completely from the wind; so, when it did freeze, 
 it generally froze as smooth as a sheet of glass. 
 
 "The lake bears!" was such a grand event, and 
 so rare, that when it did occur, the news came at 
 once to the farm, and the children carried it as 
 quickly to their mother. For she had promised 
 them that, if such a thing did happen this year — 
 
 77 
 
OUT SHE CAME, WETTER AND BRISKER THAN EVER 
 
BROWNIE ON THE ICE 79 
 
 it did not happen every year — lessons should be 
 stopped entirely, and they should all go down to 
 the lake and slide, if they liked, all day long. 
 
 So one morning, just before Christmas, the 
 eldest boy ran in with a countenance of great de- 
 light. 
 
 "Mother, mother, the lake bears!" (It was 
 rather a compliment to call it a lake, it being only 
 about twenty yards across and forty long). "The 
 lake really bears!" 
 
 "Who says so?" 
 
 "Bill. Bill has been on it for an hour this 
 morning, and has made us two such beautiful 
 slides, he says — an up-slide and a down-slide. May 
 we go to them directly?" 
 
 The mother hesitated. 
 
 "You promised, you know," pleaded the chil- 
 dren. 
 
 "Very well, then; only be careful." 
 
 "And may we slide all day long, and never 
 come home for dinner or anything?" 
 
 "Yes, if you like. Only Gardener must go with 
 you, and stay all day." 
 
 This they did not like at all; nor, when Garde- 
 ner was spoken to, did he. 
 
80 ADVENTURES OF A BROWNIE 
 
 "You bothering children! I wish you may all 
 get a good ducking in the lake! Serve you right 
 for making me lose a day's work, just to look after 
 you little monkeys. I've a great mind to tell your 
 mother I won't do it." 
 
 But he did not, being fond of his mistress. He 
 was also fond of his work, but he had no notion of 
 play. I think the saying of "All work and no play 
 makes Jack a dull boy," must have been applied 
 to him, for Gardener, whatever he had been as a 
 boy, was certainly a dull and melancholy man. 
 The children used to say that if he and idle Bill 
 could have been kneaded into one, and baked in 
 the oven — a very warm oven — they would have 
 come out rather a pleasant person. 
 
 As it was, Gardener was anything but a pleas- 
 ant person; above all, to spend a long day with, 
 and on the ice, where one needs all one's cheer- 
 fulness and good-humor to bear pinched fingers 
 and numbed toes, and trips and tumbles, and vari- 
 ous uncomf ortablenesses. 
 
 "He'll growl at us all day long — he'll be a regu- 
 lar spoil-sport!" lamented the children. "Oh, 
 mother, mightn't we go alone?" 
 
 "No!" said the mother; and her "No" meant 
 no, though she was always very kind. They 
 argued the point no more, but started off, rather 
 
BROWNIE ON THE ICE 81 
 
 downhearted. But soon they regained their spirits, 
 for it was a bright, clear, frosty day — the sun shin- 
 ing, though not enough to melt the ice, and just 
 sufficient to lie like a thin sprinkling over the grass 
 and turn the brown branches into white ones. The 
 little people danced along to keep themselves 
 warm, carrying between them a basket which held 
 their lunch. A very harmless lunch it was — just 
 a large brown loaf and a lump of cheese, and a 
 knife to cut it with. Tossing the basket about 
 in their fun, they managed to tumble the knife 
 out, and were having a search for it in the long 
 grass, when Gardener came up, grumpily enough. 
 
 "To think of trusting you children with one 
 of the table-knives and a basket! what a fool Cook 
 must be! I'll tell her so; and if they're lost she'll 
 blame me: give me the things." 
 
 He put the knife angrily in one pocket. "Per- 
 haps it will cut a hole in it," said one of the chil- 
 dren, in rather a pleased tone than otherwise; then 
 he turned the lunch all out on the grass and 
 crammed it in the other pocket, hiding the basket 
 behind a hedge. 
 
 «T>, 
 
 Tm sure I'll not be at the trouble of carrying 
 it," said he, when the children cried out at this; 
 "and you sha'n't carry it either, for you'll knock 
 it about and spoil it. And as for your lunch getting 
 
82 ADVENTURES OF A BROWNIE 
 
 warm in my pocket, why, so much the better this 
 cold day." 
 
 It was not a lively joke, and they knew his 
 pocket was very dirty; indeed, the little girls had 
 seen him stuff a dead rat into it only the day be- 
 fore. They looked ready to cry; but there was no 
 help for them, except going back and complain- 
 ing to their mother, and they did not like to do that. 
 Besides, they knew that, though Gardener was 
 cross, he was trustworthy, and she would never 
 let them go down to the lake without him. 
 
 So they followed him, trying to be as good as 
 they could — though it was difficult work. One of 
 them proposed pelting him with snow-balls, as 
 they pelted each other. But at the first — which 
 fell in his neck — he turned round so furiously, that 
 they never sent a second, but walked behind him 
 as meek as mice. 
 
 As they went, they heard little steps pattering 
 after them. 
 
 "Perhaps it is the Brownie coming to play with 
 us — I wish he would," whispered the youngest girl 
 to the eldest boy, whose hand she generally held; 
 and then the little pattering steps sounded again, 
 traveling through the snow, but they saw nobody 
 — so they said nothing. 
 
 The children would have liked to go straight to 
 
ONE OF THEM PULLED THE GARDENER'S COAT-TAILS 
 
84 ADVENTURES OF A BROWNIE 
 
 the ice; but Gardener insisted on taking them a 
 mile round, to look at an extraordinary animal 
 which a farmer there had just gotten — sent by his 
 brother in Australia. The two old men stood gos- 
 siping so long that the children wearied extremely. 
 Every minute seemed an hour till they got on the 
 ice. 
 
 At last one of them pulled Gardener's coat- 
 tails, and whispered that they were quite ready 
 to go. 
 
 "Then I'm not," and he waited ever so much 
 longer, and took a drink of hot cider, which made 
 him quite lively for a little while. 
 
 But by the time they reached the lake, he was 
 as cross as ever. He struck the ice with his stick, 
 but made no attempt to see if it really did bear — 
 though he would not allow the children to go one 
 step upon it till he had tried. 
 
 "I know it doesn't bear, and you'll just have to 
 go home again — a good thing too — saves me from 
 losing a day's work." 
 
 "Try, only try; Bill said it bore," implored the 
 boys, and looked wistfully at the two beautiful- 
 slides — just as Bill said, one up and one down — 
 stretching all across the lake; "of course it bears, 
 or Bill could not have made these slides." 
 
BROWNIE ON THE ICE 85 
 
 "Bill's a goose!" said the Gardener, and put 
 his heavy foot cautiously on the ice. Just then 
 there was seen jumping across it a creature which 
 certainly had never been seen on ice before. It 
 made the most extraordinary bounds on its long 
 hind legs, with its little fore legs tucked up in 
 front of it as if it wanted to carry a muff; and its 
 long, stiff tail sticking out straight behind, to bal- 
 ance itself with, apparently. The children at first 
 started with surprise, and then burst out laughing, 
 for it was the funniest creature, and had the fun- 
 niest way of getting along, that they had ever seen 
 in their lives. 
 
 "It's the kangaroo!" cried Gardener, in great 
 excitement. "It has gotten loose — and it's sure to 
 be lost — and what a way Mr. Giles will be in! I 
 must go and tell him. Or stop, I'll try and catch it." 
 
 But in vain — it darted once or twice across the 
 ice, dodging him, as it were; and once coming so 
 close that he nearly caught it by the tail — to the 
 children's great delight — then it vanished entirely. 
 
 "I must go and tell Mr. Giles directly," said 
 Gardener, and then stopped. For he had prom- 
 ised not to leave the children; and it was such a 
 wild-goose chase, after an escaped kangaroo. But 
 he might get half a crown as a reward, and he 
 was sure of another glass of cider, 
 
86 ADVENTURES OF A BROWNIE 
 
 "You just stay quietly here, and I'll be back in 
 five minutes/' said he to the children. "You may 
 go a little way on the ice — I think it's sound 
 enough; only mind you don't tumble in, for there'll 
 be nobody to pull you out." 
 
 "Oh, no," said the children, clapping their 
 hands. They did not care for tumbling in, and were 
 quite glad there was nobody there to pull them out. 
 They hoped Gardener would stay a very long time 
 away — only, as some one suggested when he was 
 seen hurrying across the snowy field, he had taken 
 away their lunch in his pocket, too. 
 
 "Never mind — we're not hungry yet. Now for 
 a slide." 
 
 Off they darted, the three older boys, with a 
 good run; the biggest of the girls followed after 
 them; and soon the whole four were skimming one 
 after the other, as fast as a railway train, across 
 the slippery ice. And, like a railway train, they 
 had a collision, and all came tumbling one over the 
 other, with great screaming and laughter, to 
 the high bank on the other side. The two younger 
 ones stood mournfully watching the others from 
 the opposite bank — when there stood beside them 
 a small brown man. 
 
 "Ho-ho ! little people," said he, coming between 
 them and taking hold of a hand of each. His 
 
"HO-HO! LITTLE PEOPLE," SAID HE 
 
88 BROWNIE ON THE ICE 
 
 was so warm and theirs so cold, that it was quite 
 comfortable. And then, somehow, they found in 
 their open mouths a nice lozenge — I think it was 
 peppermint, but am not sure; which comforted 
 them still more. 
 
 "Did you want me to play with you?" cried the 
 Brownie; "then here I am! What shall we do? 
 Have a turn on the ice together?" 
 
 No sooner said than done. The two little chil- 
 dren felt themselves floating along — it was more 
 like floating than running — with Brownie between 
 them; up the lake, and down the lake, and across 
 the lake, not at all interfering with the sliders — 
 indeed, it was a great deal better than sliding. 
 Rosy and breathless, their toes so nice and warm, 
 and their hands feeling like mince-pies just taken 
 out of the oven — the little ones came to a stand- 
 still. 
 
 The elder ones stopped their sliding, and 
 looked toward Brownie with entreating eyes. He 
 swung himself up to a willow bough, and then 
 turned head over heels on to the ice. 
 
 "Halloo! you don't mean to say you big ones 
 want a race too ! Well, come along — if the two eld- 
 est will give a slide to the little ones." 
 
 He watched them take a tiny sister between 
 them, and slide her up one slide and down another 
 
BROWNIE ON THE ICE 89 
 
 screaming with delight. Then he took the two 
 middle children in either hand. 
 
 "One, two, three, and away!" Off they started 
 — scudding- along as light as feathers and as fast 
 as steam-engines, over the smooth, black ice, so 
 clear that they could see the bits of stick and wat- 
 er-grasses frozen in it, and even the little fishes 
 swimming far down below — if they had only 
 looked long enough. 
 
 When all had had their fair turns, they be- 
 gan to be frightfully hungry. 
 
 "Catch a fish for dinner, and I'll lend you a 
 hook," said Brownie. At which they all laughed, 
 and then looked rather grave. Pulling a cold, raw, 
 live fish from under the ice and eating it was not 
 a pleasant idea of dinner. "Well, what would you 
 like to have? Let the little one choose." 
 
 She said, after thinking a minute, that she 
 should like a currant-cake. 
 
 "And I'd give you all a bit of it — a very large 
 bit — I would indeed!" added she, almost with the 
 tears in her eyes — she was so very hungry. 
 
 "Do it, then!" said the Brownie, in his little 
 squeaking voice. 
 
 Immediately the stone that the little girl was 
 sitting on — a round, hard stone, and so cold! — 
 
90 ADVENTURES OF A BROWNIE 
 
 turned into a nice hot cake — so hot that she jumped 
 up directly. As soon as she saw what it was, she 
 clapped her hands for joy. 
 
 "Oh, what a beautiful, beautiful cake! only 
 we haven't got a knife to cut it." 
 
 The boys felt in all their pockets, but some- 
 how their knives never were there when they were 
 wanted. 
 
 "Look! you've got one in your hand!" said 
 Brownie to the little one; and that minute a bit of 
 stick she held turned into a bread-knife — silver, 
 with an ivory handle — big enough and sharp 
 enough, without being too sharp. For the young- 
 est girl was not allowed to use sharp knives, 
 though she liked cutting things excessively, es- 
 pecially cakes. 
 
 "That will do. Sit you down and carve the din- 
 ner. Fair shares, and don't let anybody eat too 
 much. Now begin, ma'am," said the Brownie, 
 quite politely, as if she had been ever so old. 
 
 Oh, how proud the little girl was! How brave- 
 ly she set to work, and cut five of the biggest slices 
 you ever saw, and gave them to her brothers and 
 sisters, and was just going to take the sixth slice 
 for herself, when she remembered the Brownie. 
 
 "I beg your pardon," said she, as politely as 
 he, though she was such a very little girl, and 
 
SHE CUT FIVE BIG SLICES 
 
92 ADVENTURES OF A BROWNIE 
 
 turned round to the wee brown man. But he was 
 nowhere to be seen. The slices of cake in the chil- 
 dren's hands remained cake, and uncommonly 
 good it was, and such substantial eating that it did 
 nearly the same as dinner; but the cake itself 
 turned suddenly to a stone again, and the knife 
 into a bit of stick. 
 
 For there was the Gardener coming clumping 
 along by the bank of the lake, and growling as he 
 went. 
 
 "Have you got the kangaroo?" shouted the 
 children, determined to be civil, if possible. 
 
 "This place is bewitched, I think," said he. 
 "The kangaroo was fast asleep in the cow-shed. 
 What! how dare you laugh at me?" 
 
 But they hadn't laughed at all. And they 
 found it no laughing matter, poor children, when 
 Gardener came on the ice, and began to scold them 
 and order them about. He was perfectly savage 
 with crossness; for the people at Giles' Farm had 
 laughed at him very much, and he did not like to 
 be laughed at — and at the top of the field he had 
 by chance met his mistress, and she had asked him 
 severely how he could think of leaving the chil- 
 dren alone. 
 
 Altogether, his conscience pricked him a good 
 deal; and when people's consciences prick them, 
 
BROWNIE ON THE ICE 93 
 
 sometimes they get angry with other people, which 
 is very silly, and only makes matters worse. 
 
 "What have you been doing all this time?" 
 said he. 
 
 "All this five minutes?" said the eldest boy, 
 mischievously; for Gardener was only to be away 
 five minutes, and he had stayed a full hour. Also, 
 when he fumbled in his pocket for the children's 
 lunch — to stop their tongues, perhaps — he found 
 it was not there. 
 
 They set up a great outcry; for, in spite of the 
 cake, they could have eaten a little more. Indeed, 
 the frost had such an effect upon all their appetites, 
 that they felt not unlike that celebrated gentleman 
 of whom it is told that 
 
 "He ate a cow, and ate a calf, 
 He ate an ox, and ate a half; 
 He ate a church, he ate the steeple, 
 He ate the priest, and all the people, 
 And said he hadn't had enough then." 
 
 "We're so hungry, so very hungry! Couldn't 
 you go back again and fetch us some dinner?" 
 cried they, entreatingly. 
 
 "Not I, indeed. You may go back to dinner 
 yourselves. You shall, indeed, for I want my din- 
 
94 ADVENTURES OF A BROWNIE 
 
 ner too. Two hours is plenty long enough to stay 
 on the ice." 
 
 "It isn't two hours — it's only one." 
 
 "Well, one will do better than more. You're 
 all right now — and you might soon tumble in, or 
 break your legs on the slide. So come away home." 
 
 It wasn't kind of Gardener, and I don't wonder 
 the children felt it hard; indeed, the eldest boy re- 
 sisted stoutly. 
 
 "Mother said we might stay all day, and we 
 will stay all day. You may go home if you like." 
 
 "I won't, and you shall!" said Gardener 
 smacking a whip that he carried in his hand. "Stop 
 till I catch you, and I'll give you this about your 
 back, my fine gentleman." 
 
 And he tried to follow, but the little fellow 
 darted across the ice, objecting to be either caught 
 or whipped. It may have been rather naughty, 
 but I am afraid it was great fun dodging the 
 Gardener up and down; he being too timid to go 
 on the slippery ice, and sometimes getting so close 
 that the whip nearly touched the lad. 
 
 "Bless us! there's the kangaroo again!" said 
 he, starting. Just as he had caught the boy, and 
 lifted the whip, the creature was seen hop-hopping 
 
BROWNIE ON THE ICE 95 
 
 from bank to bank. "I can't surely be mistaken 
 this time; I must catch it." 
 
 Which seemed quite easy, for it limped as if 
 it was lame, or as if the frost had bitten its toes, 
 poor beast! Gardener went after it, walking cau- 
 tiously on the slippery, crackling ice, and never 
 minding whether or not he walked on the slides, 
 though they called out to him that his nailed boots 
 would spoil them. 
 
 But whether it was that ice which bears a boy 
 will not bear a man, or whether at each lame step 
 of the kangaroo there came a great crack, is more 
 than I can tell. However, just as Gardener reached 
 the middle of the lake, the ice suddenly broke, and 
 in he popped. — The kangaroo too, apparently, for 
 it was not seen afterward. 
 
 What a hullaballoo the poor man made! Not 
 that he was drowning — the lake was too shallow 
 to drown anybody; but he got terribly wet, and the 
 water was very cold. He soon scrambled out, the 
 boys helping him; and then he hobbled home as 
 fast as he could, not even saying thank you, or 
 taking the least notice of them. 
 
 Indeed, nobody took any notice of them — no- 
 body came to fetch them, and they might have 
 stayed sliding the whole afternoon. Only some- 
 how they did not feel quite easy in their minds. 
 
96 ADVENTURES OF A BROWNIE 
 
 And though the hole in the ice closed up immedi- 
 ately, and it seemed as firm as ever, still they did 
 not like to slide upon it again. 
 
 "I think we had better go home and tell mother 
 everything/' said one of them. "Besides, we ought 
 to see what has become of poor Gardener. He was 
 very wet." 
 
 "Yes, but oh, how funny he looked!" And they 
 all burst out laughing at the recollection of the fig- 
 ure he cut, scrambling out through the ice with his 
 trousers dripping up to the knees, and the water 
 running out of his boots, making a little pool wher- 
 ever he stepped. 
 
 "And it freezes so hard, that by the time he 
 gets home his clothes will be as stiff as a board. 
 His wife will have to put him to the fire to thaw 
 before he can get out of them." 
 
 Again the little people burst into shouts of 
 laughter. Although they laughed, they were a lit- 
 tle sorry for poor old Gardener, and hoped no great 
 harm had come to him, but that he had gotten 
 safely home and been dried by his own warm fire. 
 
 The frosty mist was beginning already to rise, 
 and the sun, though still high up in the sky, looked 
 like a ball of red-hot iron as the six children went 
 homeward across the fields — merry enough still, 
 
BROWNIE ON THE ICE 97 
 
 but not quite so merry as they had been a few hours 
 before. 
 
 "Let's hope mother won't be vexed with us," 
 said they, "but will let us come back again tomor- 
 row. It wasn't our fault that Gardener tumbled 
 in." 
 
 As somebody said this, they all heard quite dis- 
 tinctly, "Ha, ha, ha!" and "Ho, ho, ho!" and a sound 
 of little steps pattering behind. 
 
 But whatever they thought, nobody ventured 
 to say that it was the fault of the Brownie. 
 
BROWNIE AND THE CLOTHES 
 
 HP ILL the next time; but when there is a Brownie 
 -*■ in the house, no one can say that any of his 
 tricks will be the last, for there's no stopping a 
 Brownie, and no getting rid of him either. This 
 one had followed the family from house to house, 
 generation after generation — never any older, 
 and sometimes seeming even to grow younger, by 
 the tricks he played. In fact, though he looked 
 like an old man, he was a perpetual child. 
 
 To the children he never did any harm, quite 
 the contrary. And his chief misdoings were 
 against those who vexed the children. But he 
 gradually made friends with several of his grown- 
 up enemies. Cook, for instance, who had ceased 
 to be lazy at night and late in the morning, found 
 no more black foot-marks on her white table-cloth. 
 And Brownie found his basin of milk waiting for 
 him, night after night, behind the coal-cellar door. 
 
 Bill, too, got on well enough with his pony, and 
 Jess was taken on no more night-rides. No ducks 
 were lost; and Dolly gave her milk quite comfort- 
 ably to whoever milked her. Alas! this was either 
 
100 ADVENTURES OF A BROWNIE 
 
 Bill or the Gardener's wife now. After that adven- 
 ture on the ice, poor Gardener very seldom ap- 
 peared; when he did, it was on two crutches, for he 
 had had rheumatism in his feet, and could not stir 
 outside his cottage door. Bill, therefore, had dou- 
 ble work; which was probably all the better for Bill. 
 
 The garden had to take care of itself; but this 
 being winter-time, it did not much signify. Be- 
 sides, Brownie seldom went into the garden, ex- 
 cept in summer; during the hard weather he pre- 
 ferred to stop in his coal-cellar. It might not have 
 been a lively place, but it was warm, and he liked it. 
 
 He had company there, too; for when the cat 
 had more kittens — the kitten he used to tease be- 
 ing grown up now — they were all put in a hamper 
 in the coal-cellar; and of cold nights Brownie used 
 to jump in beside them, and be as warm and as 
 cozy as a kitten himself. The little things never 
 were heard to mew; so it may be supposed they 
 liked his society. And the old mother-cat evident- 
 ly bore him no malice for the whipping she had 
 gotten by mistake; so Brownie must have found 
 means of coaxing her over. One thing you may 
 be sure of — all the while she and her kittens were 
 in his coal-cellar, he took care never to turn himself 
 into a mouse. 
 
 He was spending the winter, on the whole, very 
 comfortably, without much trouble either to him- 
 
BROWNIE AND THE CLOTHES 101 
 
 self or his neighbors, when one day, the coal-cellar 
 being nearly empty, two men, and a great wagon- 
 load of coals behind him, came to the door, Garde- 
 ner's wife following. 
 
 "My man says you're to give the cellar a good 
 cleaning out before you put any more in," said she, 
 in her sharp voice; "and don't be lazy about it. It'll 
 not take you ten minutes, for it's nearly all coal- 
 dust, except that one big lump in the corner — you 
 might clear that out too." 
 
 "Stop, it's the Brownie's lump! better not med- 
 dle with it," whispered the little scullery-maid. 
 
 "Don't you meddle with matters that can't con- 
 cern you," said the Gardener's wife, who had been 
 thinking what a nice help it would be to her fire. 
 To be sure, it was not her lump of coal, but she 
 thought she might take it; the mistress would nev- 
 er miss it, or the Brownie either. He must be a 
 very silly old Brownie to live under a lump of coal. 
 
 So she argued with herself, and made the men 
 lift it. "You must lift it, you see, if you are to 
 sweep the coal-cellar out clean. And you may as 
 well put it on the barrow, and I'll wheel it out of 
 your way." 
 
 This she said in quite a civil voice, lest they 
 should tell of her, and stood by while it was being 
 done. It was done without anything happening, 
 
102 ADVENTURES OF A BROWNIE 
 
 except that a large rat ran out of the coal-cellar 
 door, bouncing against her feet, and frightening 
 her so much that she nearly tumbled down. 
 
 "See what nonsense it is to talk of Brownies 
 living in a coal-cellar. Nothing lives there but 
 rats, and I'll have them poisoned pretty soon, and 
 get rid of them." 
 
 But she was rather frightened all the same, 
 for the rat had been such a very big rat, and had 
 looked at her, as it darted past, with such wild, 
 bright, mischievous eyes — brown eyes, of course — 
 that she all but jumped with surprise. 
 
 However, she had gotten her lump of coal, and 
 was wheeling it quietly away, nobody seeing, to her 
 cottage at the bottom of the garden. She was a 
 hard-worked woman, and her husband's illness 
 made things harder for her. Still, she was not 
 quite easy at taking what did not belong to her. 
 
 "I don't suppose anybody will miss the coal," 
 she repeated. "I dare say the mistress would have 
 given it to me if I had asked her; and as for its be- 
 ing the Brownie's lump — fudge! Bless us! what's 
 that?" 
 
 For the barrow began to creak dreadfully, and 
 every creak sounded like the cry of a child, just 
 as if the wheel were going over its leg and crush- 
 ing its poor little bones. 
 
\2Z£- 
 
 SUDDENLY, THE BARROW TILTED OVER 
 
104 ADVENTURES OF A BROWNIE 
 
 "What a horrid noise! I must grease the bar- 
 row. If only I knew where they keep the grease- 
 box. All goes wrong, now my old man's laid up. 
 Oh, dear! oh dear!" 
 
 For suddenly the barrow had tilted over, 
 though there was not a single stone near, and the 
 big coal was tumbled on to the ground, where it 
 broke into a thousand pieces. Gathering it up again 
 was hopeless, and it made such a mess on the grav- 
 el-walk, that the old woman was thankful her mis- 
 fortune happened behind the privet hedge, where 
 nobody was likely to come. 
 
 "I'll take a broom and sweep it up tomorrow. 
 Nobody goes near the orchard now, except me 
 when I hang out the clothes; so I need say nothing 
 about it to the old man or anybody. But ah! deary 
 me, what a beautiful lot of coal I've lost!" 
 
 She stood and looked at it mournfully, and 
 then went into her cottage, where she found two 
 or three of the little children keeping Gardener 
 company. They did not dislike to do this now; 
 but he was so much kinder than he used to be — so 
 quiet and patient, though he suffered very much. 
 And he had never once reproached them for what 
 they always remembered — how it was ever since he 
 was on the ice with them that he had had the 
 rheumatism. 
 
BROWNIE AND THE CLOTHES 105 
 
 So, one or another of them made a point of 
 going to see him every day, and telling him all the 
 funny things they could think of — indeed, it was 
 a contest among them who should first make 
 Gardener laugh. They did not succeed in doing 
 that exactly; but they managed to make him smile; 
 and he was always gentle and grateful to them; so 
 that they sometimes thought it was rather nice 
 his being ill. 
 
 But his wife was not pleasant; she grumbled 
 all day long, and snapped at him and his visitors; 
 being especially snappish this day, because she had 
 lost her big coal. 
 
 "I can't have you children come bothering 
 here," said she, crossly. "I want to wring out my 
 clothes, and hang them to dry. Be off with you!" 
 
 "Let us stop a little — just to tell Gardener this 
 one curious thing about Dolly and the pig — and 
 then we'll help you to take your clothes to the 
 orchard; we can carry your basket between us — 
 we can, indeed." 
 
 That was the last thing the woman wished; 
 for she knew that the children would be sure to see 
 the mess on the gravel walk — and they were such 
 inquisitive children — they noticed everything. 
 They would want to know all about it, and how 
 the bits of coal came there. It was a very awk- 
 
106 ADVENTURES OF A BROWNIE 
 
 ward position. But people who take other people's 
 property often do find themselves in awkward po- 
 sitions. 
 
 "Thank you, young gentlemen/' said she, quite 
 politely; "but indeed the basket is too heavy for 
 you. However, you may stop and gossip a little 
 longer with my old man. He likes it." 
 
 And, while they were shut up with Gardener 
 in his bedroom, off she went, carrying the basket 
 on her head, and hung her clothes carefully out — 
 the big things on lines between the fruit trees, and 
 the little things, such as stockings and pocket- 
 handkerchiefs, stuck on the gooseberry-bushes, or 
 spread upon the clean green grass. 
 
 "Such a fine day as it is; they'll dry directly," 
 said she, cheerfully, to herself. "Plenty of sun, and 
 not a breath of wind to blow them about. I'll 
 leave them for an hour or two, and come and fetch 
 them in before it grows dark. Then I shall get all 
 my folding done by bed-time, and have a clear day 
 for ironing tomorrow." 
 
 But when she did fetch them in, having 
 bundled them all together in the dusk of the even- 
 ing, never was such a sight as those clothes! They 
 were all twisted in the oddest way — the stockings 
 turned inside out, with the heels and toes tucked 
 into the legs; the sleeves of the shirts tied together 
 

 4 
 
 ^lice cTrsev ]fyf 
 
 \>. 
 
BROWNIE AND THE CLOTHES 107 
 
 in double knots, the pocket-handkerchiefs made 
 into round balls, so tight that if you had pelted 
 a person with them they would have given very 
 hard blows indeed. And the whole looked as if, 
 instead of lying quietly on the grass and bushes, 
 they had been dragged through heaps of mud and 
 then stamped upon, so that there was not a clean 
 inch upon them from end to end. 
 
 "What a horrid mess!" cried the Gardener's 
 wife, who had been at first very angry, and then 
 very frightened. "But I know what it is; that evil 
 Boxer has gotten loose again. It's he that has 
 done it." 
 
 "Boxer wouldn't tie shirt-sleeves in double 
 knots, or make balls of pocket-handkerchiefs," 
 Gardener was heard to answer, solemnly. 
 
 "Then it's those horrid children; they are al- 
 ways up to some mischief or other — just let me 
 catch them!" 
 
 "You'd better not," said somebody in a voice 
 exactly like Gardener's, though he himself de- 
 clared he had not spoken a word. Indeed, he was 
 fast asleep. 
 
 "Well, it's the most extraordinary thing I ever 
 heard of," the Gardener's wife said, supposing she 
 was talking to her husband all the time; but soon 
 
108 ADVENTURES OF A BROWNIE 
 
 she held her tongue, for she found here and there 
 among the clothes all sorts of queer marks — marks 
 of fingers, and toes, and heels, not in mud at all, 
 but in coal-dust, as black as black could be. 
 
 Now, as the place where the big coal had 
 tumbled out of the barrow was fully fifty yards 
 from the orchard, and, as the coal could not come 
 to the clothes, and the clothes could not go with- 
 out hands, the only conclusion she could arrive at 
 was — well, no particular conclusion at all! 
 
 It was too late that night to begin washing 
 again; besides, she was extremely tired, and her 
 husband woke up rather worse than usual, so she 
 just bundled the clothes up anyhow in a corner, 
 put the kitchen to rights, and went mournfully 
 to bed. 
 
 Next morning she got up long before it was 
 light, washed her clothes all over again, and, it be- 
 ing impossible to dry them by the fire, went out 
 with them once more, and began spreading them 
 out in their usual corner, in a hopeless and mel- 
 ancholy manner. While she was at it, the little 
 folks came trooping around her. She didn't scold 
 them this time, she was too low-spirited. 
 
 "No! my old man isn't any better, and I don't 
 fancy he ever will be," said she, in answer to their 
 questions. "And everything's going wrong with 
 
BROWNIE AND THE CLOTHES 109 
 
 us — just listen !" And she told the trick which had 
 been played her about the clothes. 
 
 The little people tried not to laugh, but it was 
 so funny; and even now, the minute she had done 
 hanging them out, there was something so droll in 
 the way the clothes blew about, without any wind; 
 the shirts hanging with their necks downward, as 
 if there was a man inside them; and the drawers 
 standing stiffly astride on the gooseberry-bushes, 
 for all the world as if they held a pair of legs still. 
 As for Gardener's night-caps — long, white cotton, 
 with a tassel at the top — they were alarming to 
 look at, just like a head stuck on the top of a pole. 
 
 The whole thing was so peculiar, and the old 
 woman so comical in her despair, that the children, 
 after trying hard to keep it in, at last broke into 
 shouts of laughter. She turned furiously upon 
 them. 
 
 "It was you who did it!" 
 
 "No, indeed it wasn't!" said they, jumping far- 
 ther to escape her blows. For she had picked up 
 one of her clothes-props, and was laying about her 
 in the most reckless manner. However, she hurt 
 nobody, and then she suddenly burst out, not 
 laughing, but crying. 
 
 "It's a cruel thing, whoever has done it, to play 
 such tricks on a poor old body like me, with a sick 
 
110 ADVENTURES OF A BROWNIE 
 
 husband that she works hard for, and not a child 
 to help her. But I don't care. I'll wash my clothes 
 again, if it's twenty times over, and I'll hang them 
 out again in the very place, just to make you all 
 ashamed of yourselves. 
 
 Perhaps the little people were ashamed of 
 themselves, though they really had not done the 
 mischief. But they knew quite well who had done 
 it, and more than once they were about to tell; 
 only they were afraid, if they did so, they should 
 vex the Brownie so much that he would never come 
 and play with them any more. 
 
 So they looked at one another without speak- 
 ing, and when the Gardener's wife had emptied 
 her basket and dried her eyes, they said to her, very 
 kindly: 
 
 "Perhaps no harm may come to your clothes 
 this time. We'll sit and watch them till they are 
 dry." 
 
 "Just as you like; I don't care. Them that 
 hides can find, and them that plays tricks knows 
 how to stop 'em." 
 
 It was not a civil speech, but then things were 
 hard for the poor old woman. She had been awake 
 nearly all night, and up washing at day-break; her 
 eyes were red with crying, and her steps weary 
 and slow. The little children felt quite sorry for 
 
BROWNIE AND THE CLOTHES 111 
 
 her, and, instead of going to play, sat watching 
 the clothes as patiently as possible. 
 
 Nothing came near them. Sometimes, as be- 
 fore, the things seemed to dance about without 
 hands, and turn into odd shapes, as if there were 
 people inside them; but not a creature was seen, 
 and not a sound was heard. And though there was 
 neither wind nor sun, very soon all the linen was 
 perfectly dry. 
 
 "Fetch one of mother's baskets, and we'll fold 
 things up as tidily as possible — that is, the girls can 
 do it, it's their business — and we boys will carry it 
 safe to Gardener's cottage." 
 
 So said they, not liking to say that they could 
 not trust it out of their sight for fear of Brownie, 
 whom, indeed, they were expecting to see peer 
 round from every bush. They began to have a 
 secret fear that he was rather a naughty Brownie; 
 but then, as the eldest little girl whispered, "He 
 was only a Brownie, and knew no better." Now 
 they were growing quite big children, who would 
 be men and women some time; when they hoped 
 they would never do anything wrong. (Their par- 
 ents hoped the same, but doubted it.) 
 
 In a serious and careful manner they folded up 
 the clothes, and laid them one by one in the basket 
 without any mischief, until, just as the two biggest 
 
112 ADVENTURES OF A BROWNIE 
 
 boys were lifting" their burden to carry it away, 
 they felt something- tugging at it from under- 
 neath. 
 
 "Halloo!! Where are you taking all this rub- 
 bish? Better give it to me." 
 
 "No, if you please," said they, very civilly, not 
 to offend the little brown man. "We'll not trouble 
 you, thanks! We'd rather do it ourselves; for poor 
 old Gardener is very ill, and his wife is very mis- 
 erable, and we are extremely sorry for them both." 
 
 "Extremely sorry!" cried Brownie, throwing 
 up his cap in the air, and tumbling head over heels 
 in an excited manner. "What in the world does 
 extremely sorry mean?" 
 
 The children could not explain, especially to a 
 Brownie; but they thought they understood — any- 
 how, they felt it. And they looked so sorrowful 
 that the Brownie could not tell what to make of it. 
 
 He could not be said to be sorry, since, being a 
 Brownie, and not a human being, knowing right 
 from wrong, he never tried particularly to do 
 right, and had no idea when he was doing wrong. 
 But he seemed to have an idea that he was trou- 
 bling the children, and he never liked to see them 
 look unhappy. 
 
 So he turned head over heels six times run- 
 ning, and then came back again. 
 
BROWNIE AND THE CLOTHES 113 
 
 "The silly old woman ! I washed her clothes for 
 her last night in a way she didn't expect. I hadn't 
 any soap, so I used a little mud and coal-dust, and 
 very pretty they looked. Ha, ha, ha! Shall I wash 
 them over again tonight?" 
 
 "Oh, no, please don't!" implored the children. 
 
 "Shall I starch and iron them? I'll do it beauti- 
 fully. One — two — three, five — six — seven, Abra- 
 cadabra, turn — turn — ti!" shouted he, jabbering all 
 sorts of nonsense, as it seemed to the children, and 
 playing such antics that they stood and stared in 
 the utmost amazement, and quite forgot the 
 clothes. When they looked round again, the basket 
 was gone. 
 
 "Seek 'till you find, seek 'till you find, 
 Under the biggest gooseberry-bush, 
 Exactly to your mind." 
 
 They heard him singing this remarkable 
 rhyme, long after they had lost sight of him. And 
 then they all set about searching; but it was a long 
 while before they found, and still longer before 
 they could decide, which was the biggest goose- 
 berry-bush, each child having his or her opinion — 
 sometimes a very strong one — on the matter. At 
 last they agreed to settle it by pulling half a dozen 
 
mMaSm 
 
 I SHOULD LIKE A BROWNIE TO PLAY WITH ME 
 
BROWNIE AND THE CLOTHES 115 
 
 little sticks, to see which stick was the longest, and 
 the child that held it was to decide the gooseberry- 
 bush. 
 
 This done, underneath the branches what 
 should they find but the identical basket of clothes! 
 only, instead of being roughly dried, they were all 
 starched and ironed in the most beautiful manner. 
 As for the shirts, they really were a picture to be- 
 hold, and the stockings were all folded up, and 
 even darned in one or two places, as neatly as 
 possible. And strange to tell, there was not a sin- 
 gle black mark of feet or fingers on any one of 
 them. 
 
 "Kind little Brownie! clever little Brownie !" 
 cried the children in chorus, and thought this was 
 the most astonishing trick he had ever played. 
 
 What the Gardener's wife said about it, 
 whether they told her anything, or allowed her to 
 suppose that the clothes had been done in their 
 own laundry instead of the Brownie's (wherever 
 that establishment might be, is more than I can 
 tell. Of one thing only I am certain — that the little 
 people said nothing but what was true. Also, that 
 the very minute they reached home they told their 
 mother everything. 
 
 But for a long time after that they were a 
 good deal troubled. Gardener got better, and went 
 
116 ADVENTURES OF A BROWNIE 
 
 hobbling about the place again, to his own and 
 everybody's great content, and his wife was less 
 sharp-tongued and complaining than usual — in- 
 deed, she had nothing to complain of. All the fam- 
 ily were very flourishing, except the little Brownie. 
 
 Often there was heard a curious sound all over 
 the house; it might have been rats squeaking be- 
 hind the wainscot — the elders said it was — but the 
 children were sure it was a sort of weeping and 
 wailing. 
 
 "They've stolen my coal, 
 And I haven't a hole 
 
 To hide in; 
 Not even a house 
 One could ask a mouse 
 
 To bide in." 
 
 A most forlorn tune it was, ending in a dreary 
 minor key, and it lasted for months and months — 
 at least the children said it did. And they were 
 growing quite dull for want of a playfellow, when, 
 by the greatest good luck in the world, there came 
 to the house not only a new lot of kittens, but a new 
 baby. And the new baby was everybody's pet, in- 
 cluding the Brownie's. 
 
 From that time, though he was not often seen, 
 he was continually heard up and down the stair- 
 
BROWNIE AND THE CLOTHES 117 
 
 case, where he was frequently mistaken for Tiny 
 or the cat, and sent sharply down again, which was 
 wasting a great deal of wholesome anger upon 
 Mr. Nobody. Or he lurked in odd corners of the 
 nursery, whither the baby was seen crawling 
 eagerly after nothing in particular, or sitting 
 laughing with all her might at something — prob- 
 ably her own toes. 
 
 But, as Brownie was never seen, he was never 
 suspected. And since he did no mischief — neither 
 pinched the baby nor broke the toys, left no soap 
 in the bath and no foot-marks about the room — 
 but was always a well-conducted Brownie in every 
 way, he was allowed to inhabit the nursery (or sup- 
 posed to do so, since, as nobody saw him, nobody 
 could prevent him), until the children were grown 
 up into men and women. 
 
 After that he retired into his coal-cellar, and, 
 for all I know, he may live there still, and have gone 
 through hundreds of adventures since; but as I 
 never heard them, I can't tell them. Only I think, 
 if I could be a little child again, I should exceed- 
 ingly like a Brownie to play with me. Should not 
 you? 
 
c Tke Fair One wifh Golden Locks 
 
rarwpgta 
 
 THE FAIR ONE 
 WITH GOLDEN LOCKS I 
 
 THERE was once a king's daughter so beauti- 
 ful that they named her the Fair One with 
 Golden Locks. These golden locks were the most 
 remarkable in the world, soft and fine and falling 
 in long waves down to her very feet. She wore 
 them always thus, loose and flowing, surmounted 
 with a wreath of flowers. 
 
 Now, there was a young king of a neighboring 
 country, very handsome, very rich, and wanting 
 nothing but a wife to make him happy. He heard 
 so much of the various perfections of the Fair One 
 with Golden Locks, that, at last, without even see- 
 ing her, he fell in love with her so desperately that 
 he could neither eat nor drink, and resolved to 
 send an ambassador at once to demand her in mar- 
 
 121 
 
122 ADVENTURES OF A BROWNIE 
 
 riage. So he ordered a magnificent equipage — > 
 more than a hundred horses and a hundred foot- 
 men — in order to bring back to him the Fair One 
 with Golden Locks, who, he never doubted, would 
 be only too happy to become his queen. Indeed, 
 he felt so sure of her that he refurnished the whole 
 palace, and had made, by all the dress-makers of 
 the city, dresses enough to last a lady for a life- 
 time. But, alas, when the ambassador arrived and 
 delivered his message, either the princess was in 
 a bad humor or the offer did not appear to be to 
 her taste; for she returned her best thanks to his 
 majesty, but said she had not the slightest wish 
 or intention to be married. 
 
 When the ambassador returned, alone and 
 unsuccessful, all the court was very much affected 
 and the king himself began to weep with all his 
 might. Now, there was in the palace household a 
 young gentleman named Avenant, beautiful as 
 the sun, besides being at once so amiable and so 
 wise that the king confided to him all his affairs; 
 and every one loved him, except a few who were 
 envious of his good fortune. These malicious folk 
 hearing him say gayly, "If the king had sent me to 
 fetch the Fair One with Golden Locks, I know she 
 would have come back with me," repeated the say- 
 ing in such a manner that it appeared as if Ave- 
 nant thought so much of himself and his beauty, 
 
THE FAIR ONE WITH GOLDEN LOCKS 123 
 
 and felt sure the princess would have followed him 
 all over the world; which when it came to the ears 
 of the king, as it was meant to do, irritated him so 
 much that he commanded Avenant to be impris- 
 oned in a high tower, and left to die there of hun- 
 ger. The guards accordingly carried off the 
 young man, who had quite forgotten his idle 
 speech, and had not the least idea what fault he 
 had committed. They ill-treated him very much, 
 and then left him, with nothing to eat and only 
 water to drink. This, however, kept him alive for 
 a few days, during which he did not cease to com- 
 plain aloud, and to call upon the king, saying, u O 
 king, what harm have I done? You have no sub- 
 ject more faithful than I. Never have I had a 
 thought which could offend you." 
 
 And it so befell that the king, coming by 
 chance, or else with a sort of remorse, past the 
 tower, was touched by the voice of young Avenant, 
 whom he had once so much regarded. In spite of 
 the courtiers who tried to prevent him, he stopped 
 to listen, and overheard these words. The tears 
 rushed into his eyes; he opened the door of the 
 tower and called, "Avenant!" Avenant came, 
 creeping feebly along, fell at the king's knees, and 
 kissed his feet. 
 
 "0 sire, what have I done that you should treat 
 me so cruelly?" 
 
124 ADVENTURES OF A BROWNIE 
 
 "You have mocked me and my ambassador, 
 for you said if I had sent you to fetch the Fair One 
 with Golden Locks, you would have been successful 
 and brought her back." 
 
 "I did say it, and it was true," replied Ave- 
 nant fearlessly; "for I should have told her so 
 much about your majesty and your various high 
 qualities, which no one knows so well as myself, 
 that I am persuaded she would have returned with 
 me." 
 
 "I believe it," said the king, with an angry look 
 at those who had spoken ill of his favorite; he then 
 gave Avenant a free pardon, and took him back 
 with him to the court. 
 
 After having supplied the famished youth 
 with as much supper as he could eat, the king ad- 
 mitted him to a private audience, and said: "I am 
 as much in love as ever with the Fair One with 
 Golden Locks, so I will take thee at thy word and 
 send thee to try and win her for me." 
 
 "Very well, please your majesty," replied 
 Avenant cheerfully; "I will depart tomorrow." 
 
 The king, overjoyed with his willingness and 
 hopefulness, would have furnished him with a still 
 more magnificent equipage and suite than the first 
 ambassador; but Avenant refused to take any- 
 thing except a good horse to ride and letters of in- 
 
THE FAIR ONE WITH GOLDEN LOCKS 125 
 
 troduction to the princess' father. The king em- 
 braced him and eagerly saw him depart. 
 
 It was on a Monday morning when Avenant 
 thus started on his mission. He came to a great 
 meadow with a stream running through it, along 
 which were planted willows and poplars. It was 
 such a pleasant, rippling stream that he dismount- 
 ed and sat down on its bank. There he perceived 
 a large golden carp, which, in leaping too far after 
 gnats, had thrown itself quite out of the water, 
 and now lay dying on the greensward. Avenant 
 took pity on it, and though he was very hungry 
 and the fish was very fat, and he would well enough 
 have liked it for his breakfast, still he lifted it 
 gently and put it back into the stream. No sooner 
 had the carp touched the fresh cool water than it 
 revived and swam away; but shortly returning, it 
 spoke to him from the water in this wise: 
 
 "Avenant, I thank you for your good deed. I 
 was dying, and you have saved me; I will recom- 
 pense you for this some day." 
 
 After this pretty little speech, the fish popped 
 down to the bottom of the stream, according to 
 the habit of carp, leaving Avenant very much as- 
 tonished. 
 
 Another day he met with a raven that was in 
 great distress, being pursued by an eagle, which 
 
126 ADVENTURES OF A BROWNIE 
 
 would have swallowed him up in no time. "See," 
 thought Avenant, "how the stronger oppress the 
 weaker! What right has an eagle to eat up a 
 raven?" So taking his bow and arrow, which he 
 always carried, he shot the eagle dead, and the 
 raven, delighted, perched in safety on an opposite 
 tree. 
 
 "Avenant," screeched he, though not in the 
 sweetest voice in the world, "you have generously 
 succored me, a poor miserable raven. I am not un- 
 grateful, and I will recompense you one day." 
 
 "Thank you," said Avenant, and continued his 
 road. 
 
 Entering in a thick wood, so dark with the 
 shadows of early morning that he could scarcely 
 find his way, he heard an owl hooting, like an owl 
 in great tribulation. She had been caught by the 
 nets spread by bird-catchers to entrap finches, 
 larks, and other small birds. "What a pity," 
 thought Avenant, "that men must always torment 
 poor birds and beasts who have done them no 
 harm." So he took out his knife, cut the net and 
 let the owl go free. She went sailing up into the 
 air, but immediately returned, hovering over his 
 head on her brown wings. 
 
 "Avenant," said she, "at daylight the bird- 
 catchers would have been here, and I should have 
 
THE FAIR ONE WITH GOLDEN LOCKS 127 
 
 been caught and killed. I have a grateful heart; 
 I will recompense you one day." 
 
 These were the three principal adventures that 
 befell Avenant on his way to the kingdom of the 
 Fair One with Golden Locks. Arrived there, he 
 dressed himself with the greatest care, in a habit 
 of silver brocade and a hat adorned with plumes 
 of scarlet and white. He threw over all a rich man- 
 tle, and carried a little basket, in which was a love- 
 ly dog, an offering of respect to the princess. With 
 this he presented himself at the palace gates, 
 where, even though he came alone, his mien was 
 so dignified and graceful, so altogether charming, 
 that every one did him reverence, and was eager 
 to run and tell the Fair One with Golden Locks that 
 Avenant, another ambassador from the king her 
 suitor, awaited an audience. 
 
 "Avenant!" repeated the princess. "That is a 
 pretty name; perhaps the youth is pretty, too." 
 
 "So beautiful," said the ladies of honor, "that 
 while he stood under the palace window we could 
 do nothing but look at him." 
 
 "How silly of you!" sharply said the princess. 
 But she desired them to bring her robe of blue 
 satin, to comb out her long hair and adorn it with 
 the freshest garland of flowers; to give her her 
 high-heeled shoes and her fan. "Also," added she, 
 
128 ADVENTURES OF A BROWNIE 
 
 "take care that my audience-chamber is well 
 swept and my throne well dusted. I wish in every- 
 thing to appear as becomes the Fair One with 
 Golden Locks." 
 
 This done, she seated herself on her throne of 
 ivory and ebony, and gave orders for her musicians 
 to play, but softly, so as not to disturb conversa- 
 tion. Thus, shining in all her beauty, she admitted 
 Avenant to her presence. 
 
 He was so dazzled that at first he could not 
 speak; then he began and delivered his harrangue 
 to perfection. 
 
 "Gentle Avenant," returned the princess, aft- 
 er listening to all his reasons for her returning 
 with him, "your arguments are very strong, and I 
 am inclined to listen to them; but you must first 
 find for me a ring which I dropped into the river 
 about a month ago. Until I recover it, I can listen 
 to no proposition of marriage." 
 
 Avenant, surprised and disturbed, made her 
 a profound reverence and retired, taking with him 
 the basket and the little dog Cabriole, which she 
 refused to accept. All night long he sat sighing 
 to himself, "How can I ever find a ring which she 
 dropped into the river a month ago? She has set 
 me an utter impossibility." 
 
 "My dear master," said Cabriole, "nothing is 
 
THE FAIR ONE WITH GOLDEN LOCKS 129 
 
 an impossibility to one so young and charming as 
 you are; let us go at daybreak to the river side." 
 
 Avenant patted him, but replied nothing; un- 
 til, worn out with grief, he slept. Before dawn 
 Cabriole wakened him, saying, "Master, dress 
 yourself and let us go to the river." 
 
 There Avenant walked up and down, with his 
 arms folded and his head bent, but saw nothing. 
 At last he heard a voice, calling from a distance, 
 "Avenant! Avenant!" 
 
 The little dog ran to the water-side — "Never 
 believe me again, master, if it is not a golden carp 
 with a ring in its mouth!" 
 
 "Yes, Avenant," said the carp, "this is the ring 
 which the princess has lost. You saved my life in 
 the willow meadow, and I have recompensed you. 
 Farewell!" 
 
 Avenant took the ring gratefully and returned 
 to the palace with Cabriole, who scampered about 
 in great glee. Craving an audience, he presented 
 the princess with her ring, and begged her to ac- 
 company him to his master's kingdom. She took 
 the ring, looked at it, and thought she was surely 
 dreaming. 
 
 "Some fairy must have assisted you, fortu- 
 nate Avenant," said she. 
 
130 ADVENTURES OF A BROWNIE 
 
 "Madam, I am only fortunate in my desire to 
 obey your wishes." 
 
 "Obey me still," she said graciously. "There 
 is a prince named Galifron, whose suit I have re- 
 fused. He is a giant as tall as a tower, who eats a 
 man as a monkey eats a nut; he puts cannons into 
 his pockets instead of pistols; and when he speaks, 
 his voice is so loud that every one near him becomes 
 deaf. Go and fight him, and bring me his head." 
 
 Avenant was thunderstruck; but after a time 
 he recovered himself — "Very well, madan. I shall 
 certainly perish, but I will perish like a brave man. 
 I will depart at once to fight the giant Galifron." 
 
 The princess, now in her turn surprised and 
 alarmed, tried to induce him not to go, but in vain. 
 Avenant armed himself and started off, carrying 
 his little dog in its basket. Cabriole was the only 
 creature that gave him consolation: "Courage, 
 master! While you attack the giant, I will bite his 
 legs: he will stoop down to strike me, and then you 
 can knock him on the head." Avenant smiled at 
 the little dog's spirit, but he knew it was useless. 
 
 Arrived at the castle of Galifron, he found the 
 road all strewn with bones and carcasses of men. 
 Soon he saw the giant walking. His head was 
 level with the highest trees, and he sang in a ter- 
 rific voice: 
 
"OBEY ME STILL," SHE SAID GRACIOUSLY 
 
132 ADVENTURES OF A BROWNIE 
 
 "Bring me babies to devour; 
 More — more — more — more 
 Men and women, tender and tough; 
 All the world holds not enough." 
 
 To which Avenant replied, imitating the tune: 
 
 "Avenant you here may see; 
 He is come to punish thee, 
 Be he tender, be he tough, 
 To kill thee, giant, he is enough." 
 
 Hearing these words, the giant took up his 
 massive club, looked around for the singer, and, 
 perceiving him, would have slain him on the spot, 
 had not a raven, sitting on a tree close by, suddenly 
 flown out upon him and picked out both his eyes. 
 Then Avenant easily killed him and cut off his 
 head, while the raven, watching him, said: 
 
 "You shot the eagle who was pursuing me. 
 I promised to recompense you and today I have 
 done it. We are quits." 
 
 "No, it is I who am your debtor, Sir Raven," 
 replied Avenant, as, hanging the frightful head to 
 his saddle-bow, he mounted his horse and rode 
 back to the city of the Fair One with Golden Locks. 
 
 There everybody followed him, shouting, 
 "Here is brave Avenant, who has killed the giant," 
 until the princess, hearing the noise, and fearing it 
 
THE FAIR ONE WITH GOLDEN LOCKS 133 
 
 was Avenant himself who was killed, appeared, all 
 trembling, and even when he appeared with Gali- 
 fron's head, she trembled still, although she had 
 nothing to fear. 
 
 "Madam," said Avenant, "your enemy is dead; 
 so I trust you will accept the hand of the king my 
 master." 
 
 "I cannot," replied she thoughtfully, "unless 
 you first bring me a vial of the water in the Grotto 
 of Darkness. It is six leagues in length, and guard- 
 ed at the entrance by two fiery dragons. Within 
 it is a pit, full of scorpions, lizards, and serpents, 
 and at the bottom of this place flows the Fountain 
 of Beauty and Health. All who wash in it become, 
 if ugly, beautiful, and if beautiful, beautiful for- 
 ever; if old, young; and if young, young forever. 
 Judge then, Avenant, if I can quit my kingdom 
 without carrying with me some of this miraculous 
 water." 
 
 "Madam," replied Avenant, "you are already 
 so beautiful that you require it not; but I am an un- 
 fortunate ambassador whose death you desire. I 
 will obey you, though I know I shall never return." 
 
 So he departed with his only friends — his 
 horse and his faithful dog Cabriole; while all who 
 met him looked at him compassionately, pitying 
 so pretty a youth bound on such a hopeless errand. 
 
134 ADVENTURES OF A BROWNIE 
 
 But however kindly they addressed him, Avenant 
 rode on and answered nothing, for he was too sad 
 at heart. 
 
 He reached a mountain side, where he sat 
 down to rest, leaving his horse to graze and Cab- 
 riole to run after the flies. He knew that the Grot- 
 to of Darkness was not far off, yet he looked about 
 him like one who sees nothing. At last he perceived 
 a rock, as black as ink, whence came a thick smoke; 
 and in a moment appeared one of the two dragons, 
 breathing out flames. It had a yellow and green 
 body, claws, and a long tail. When Cabriole saw 
 the monster, the poor little dog hid himself in ter- 
 rible fright. But Avenant resolved to die brave- 
 ly; so, taking a vial which the princess had given 
 him, he prepared to descend into the cave. 
 
 "Cabriole," said he, "I shall soon be dead; then 
 fill this vial with my blood and carry it to the Fair 
 One with Golden Locks, and afterward to the king 
 my master, to show him I have been faithful to 
 the last." 
 
 While he was thus speaking, a voice called, 
 "Avenant! Avenant!" — and he saw an owl sitting 
 on a hollow tree. Said the owl: "You cut the net in 
 which I was caught, and I vowed to recompense 
 you. Now is the time. Give me the vial; I know 
 every corner of the Grotto of Darkness — I will 
 fetch you the water of beauty." 
 
THE FAIR ONE WITH GOLDEN LOCKS 135 
 
 Delighted beyond words, Avenant delivered 
 up his vial; the owl flew with it into the grotto and 
 in less than half an hour reappeared, bringing it 
 quite full and well corked. Avenant thanked her 
 with all his heart, and joyfully took once more the 
 road to the city. 
 
 The Fair One with Golden Locks had no more 
 to say. She consented to accompany him back, with 
 all her suite, to his master's court. On the way 
 thither, she saw so much of him, and found him so 
 charming, that Avenant might have married her 
 himself had he chosen; but he would not have been 
 false to his master for all the beauties under the 
 sun. At length they arrived at the king's city, and 
 the Fair One with Golden Locks became the king's 
 spouse and queen. But she still loved Avenant in 
 her heart, and often said to the king her lord: "But 
 for Avenant I should not be here; he has done all 
 sorts of impossible deeds for my sake; he has 
 fetched me the water of beauty, and I shall never 
 grow old — in short, I owe him everything." 
 
 And she praised him so much that at length 
 the king became jealous; and though Avenant gave 
 him not the slightest cause of offense, he shut him 
 up in the same high tower once more — but with 
 irons on his hands and feet, and a cruel jailer be- 
 sides, who fed him with bread and water only. His 
 sole companion was his little dog Cabriole. 
 
136 ADVENTURES OF A BROWNIE 
 
 When the Fair One with Golden Locks heard 
 of this she reproached her husband for his ingrati- 
 tude, and then, throwing herself at his knees, im- 
 plored that Avenant might be set free. But the 
 king only said, "She loves him!" and refused her 
 prayer. The queen entreated no more, but fell into 
 a deep melancholy. 
 
 When the king saw it, he thought she did not 
 care for him because he was not handsome enough, 
 and that if he could wash his face with the water 
 of beauty, it would make her love him more. He 
 knew that she kept it in a cabinet in her chamber, 
 where she could find it always. 
 
 Now, it happened that a waiting-maid in clean- 
 ing out this cabinet had the very day before 
 knocked down the vial, which was broken in a 
 thousand pieces, and all the contents were lost. 
 Very much alarmed, she then remembered seeing, 
 in a cabinet belonging to the king, a similar vial. 
 This she fetched and put in the place of the other 
 one, in which had been the water of beauty. But 
 the king's vial contained the water of death. It was 
 a poison, used to destroy great criminals — that is, 
 noblemen, gentlemen, and such like. Instead of 
 hanging them or cutting their heads off, like com- 
 mon people, they were compelled to wash their 
 faces with this water; upon which they fell asleep 
 and woke no more. So it happened that the king, 
 
THE FAIR ONE WITH GOLDEN LOCKS 137 
 
 taking up this vial, believing it to be the water of 
 beauty, washed his face with it, fell asleep, and — 
 died. 
 
 Cabriole heard the news, and gliding in and 
 out among the crowd which clustered round the 
 young and lovely widow, whispered softly to her: 
 "Madam, do not forget poor Avenant." If she had 
 been disposed to do so, the sight of his little dog 
 would have been enough to remind her of him — 
 his many sufferings and his great fidelity. She rose 
 up, without speaking to anybody, went straight 
 to the tower where Avenant was confined. There, 
 with her own hands, she struck off his chains, and 
 putting a crown of gold on his head and a purple 
 mantle on his shoulders, said to him, "Be king — 
 and my husband." 
 
 Avenant could not refuse; for in his heart he 
 had loved her all the time. He threw himself at 
 her feet, and then took the crown and scepter, and 
 ruled her kingdom like a king. All the people were 
 delighted to have him as their sovereign. The mar- 
 riage was celebrated in all imaginable pomp, and 
 Avenant and the Fair One with Golden Locks lived 
 and reigned happily together all their days. 
 
c [\xe WcDdcutter s daughter- 
 
c IWe Woodcutter's 
 ^au^Ktei^ 
 
 r T^HERE was once a poor woodcutter, very mis- 
 -*- erable, though prudent and industrious; he 
 had a wife and three grown-up sons, yet their unit- 
 ed labors scarcely sufficed for bread. No hope ap- 
 peared of improving his lot, when he was one day 
 fortunate enough to save the life of his master 
 when he was attacked by robbers in the forest. 
 
 This master was not ungrateful; he desired 
 the woodcutter to come to him on the following 
 day in order to receive a reward. The poor man 
 did not fail, hoping to gain two or three crowns; 
 for it appeared so natural to defend an unarmed 
 man that he attached little value to his services, 
 considering his own danger not worth a thought. 
 He put on his best array, shaved, and made many 
 reverences to the porter and the numerous lackeys 
 previous to an introduction to the master, who 
 was much more polite than the valets. 
 
 "Well, Thomas," said he, f Tiow can I recom- 
 
 141 
 
142 ADVENTURES OF A BROWNIE 
 
 pense what you have done for me? Without your 
 assistance I should have perished; and as my life 
 is a very happy one, I value it accordingly." 
 
 Poor Thomas was at a loss how to reply; he 
 stammered out, "My lord — your grace/' but could 
 get no further. 
 
 The master, in order to relieve the poor man, 
 interrupted him thus: "I understand better than 
 yourself, perhaps, what would suit you; I would not 
 wish to draw you from your native condition, for I 
 believe that none is more truly happy; but I present 
 to you and your children, in perpetuity, the cottage 
 which you inhabit in the forest. You and they shall 
 have the power of cutting as much wood every year 
 as you can use; you shall work for yourself; and if 
 your sons like to hunt, all the game which they kill 
 shall be for their own use. I only exact that you 
 sell nothing, and that while possessing every com- 
 fort, you seek not to quit your peaceful obscurity." 
 
 Thomas was so astonished that he could find 
 no words to express his gratitude. He came home 
 to his wife, who heartily shared his joy. The sons 
 immediately set off for a large supply of fagots, 
 and made a great fire; but when they had been 
 thoroughly warmed, Mother Thomas began to say 
 what a pity it was they could make no use of all 
 the wood which was not burned. 
 
HE CAME HOME TO HIS WIFE 
 
144 ADVENTURES OF A BROWNIE 
 
 "An idea has just struck me," replied the hus- 
 band. "Our master gives us all we can use; these 
 are his own words — very well; I shall be able to 
 use enough to bring us in a pretty little income !" 
 
 "How?" said his wife. 
 
 "When I was a boy," rejoined the woodcutter, 
 "my father taught me to make wooden shoes and 
 I made them so light and so neat that they were 
 everywhere sought for. What need now prevent 
 me from exercising this trade? James shall cut 
 wood in the forest, Peter shall kill game for dinner, 
 and Paul shall go to sell my merchandise at the 
 neighboring town. 
 
 The boys, who were present, highly relished 
 this idea. Mother Thomas, who was rather in- 
 clined to gluttony, made the most of the game 
 which Peter provided. A little labor, good cheer, 
 and blazing fire, a perfect family concord, rendered 
 this family the happiest in the world. The master 
 came to the cottage, and seeing them so united 
 and industrious, encouraged the trade of the 
 wooden shoes, which increased their comforts with- 
 out exposing them to the vices attendant on avarice 
 and luxury. 
 
 But happiness as this seldom remains perma- 
 nent. A flock of furious wolves appeared in the 
 
THE WOODCUTTER'S DAUGHTER 145 
 
 forest; every day they devoured either helpless 
 children or travelers. 
 
 Mother Thomas would no longer suffer her 
 boys to leave home; and when they did go in spite 
 of her, she remained watching at the door, refus- 
 ing either to eat or drink until they returned. 
 
 Such a situation was deplorable; when at 
 length the young men, who were very brave, re- 
 solved to deliver themselves and their master. Tak- 
 ing arms, in case they should be attacked, they 
 went into the forest and dug deep pits, covering 
 them with a little earth, laid over some branches 
 of trees; and during this heavy labor, which lasted 
 several days, they lighted great fires around them, 
 in order to hinder the wolves from approaching. 
 
 Success crowned their enterprise, for in re- 
 turning to the spot at sunrise, they perceived that 
 one of the pits had been broken into during the 
 night, and that it was now quite uncovered. They 
 charged their muskets, and each was disputing 
 the honor of first firing, when they heard issue 
 from the depths below a mild and supplicating 
 voice imploring assistance. 
 
 "What shall we do?" said Peter; "assuredly 
 that is not the roaring of a wolf; it is, perhaps, 
 
146 ADVENTURES OF A BROWNIE 
 
 some unfortunate little wandering child. How 
 lucky that we did not draw the trigger!" 
 
 They approached and distinguished a beauti- 
 ful lady richly dressed, wearing on her head a clus- 
 ter of diamonds, which shone like a star. She ap- 
 peared very young, and was trembling with cold. 
 Much rain had fallen during the night, and her 
 robe of silver gauze was dabbled in mud and 
 water; her fair and tender hands were all dirty, 
 which seemed to vex her even more than the dan- 
 gers she had experienced. She continued, however, 
 her attempts to free herself from the trap, when 
 three enormous wolves appeared at a distance. 
 The brothers looked at each other expressively, 
 like people who feel that all is lost, but who resolve 
 to do their duty. They had a cord about them, 
 which Peter fastened round his body, and let him- 
 self down into the pit. He took the beautiful lady 
 on his shoulders, while his brothers assisted in 
 drawing them up. They then stretched her on the 
 grass, for she had fainted; and now the wolves had 
 just reached them—when, lo! these beasts of prey 
 were instantly turned into three little lambs, and 
 licked the feet of the lady, who slowly returned 
 to life. 
 
 "My poor lads!" said she to the woodcutters, 
 "fear nothing. From henceforth no more danger- 
 
THE WOODCUTTERS DAUGHTER 147 
 
 ous animals than these shall trouble you. But I 
 owe you a still greater recompense; lead me to your 
 father; I wish to felicitate him on the generosity 
 and bravery of his sons." 
 
 The poor youths were so astonished by this ad- 
 venture that they felt unable to reply; but they 
 respectfully lifted her long train from the ground, 
 it having now recovered all its splendor. 
 
 The three lambs followed, skipping and frol- 
 icking before them — they seemed to know the way; 
 and Mother Thomas, who sat at the door looking 
 out for her children, was not a little surprised to 
 behold their companion. 
 
 She had, however, presence of mind to invite 
 her noble guest to enter and rest; much ashamed 
 of having nothing better to offer than a straw 
 chair, and some spring water, which was in a very 
 clean pitcher on the dresser. 
 
 "I shall willingly rest an hour with you/' said 
 the lady. "Although you now see me for the first 
 time, I am one of your best friends, of which I shall 
 give you a proof. I accept a glass of water, on 
 condition that your husband and children will also 
 pledge me." 
 
 A glance of Mother Thomas' eye directed her 
 family; they each sought their ordinary drinking- 
 
148 ADVENTURES OF A BROWNIE 
 
 cup, which was of wood, and then bent the neck 
 of the pitcher; but what was their astonishment 
 to perceive the vessel turn into wrought-silver in 
 their hands, and to taste, instead of water, a liquor 
 so delicious that when the woodcutter and his wife 
 had drunk, they felt themselves ten years younger 
 than before! 
 
 They threw themselves at the feet of the beau- 
 tiful lady in terror; for a natural instinct made 
 them feel that great power is always more or less 
 to be dreaded, even when employed in acts of be- 
 neficence. The lady meanwhile kindly raised them 
 and having spoken of the courage and generosity 
 of their sons, who exposed themselves to the fury 
 of wolves rather than take flight and abandon her, 
 she said that her name was the fairy Coquette, and 
 that she would willingly relate her history. 
 
 "Previously, madam/' said the woodcutter, 
 "will you have the goodness to tell me what is a 
 fairy? During thirty years that I have inhabited 
 this forest, I have heard of the devil, of the were- 
 wolf, of the monster of Gevaudan, but never have 
 I heard of fairies." 
 
 "We exist, notwithstanding," replied Co- 
 quette, "but not in all ages nor in all countries. We 
 are supernatural beings, to whom has been impart- 
 ed a portion of supernatural power, which we make 
 
THE WOODCUTTER'S DAUGHTER 149 
 
 use of for good or evil, according to our natural 
 disposition; in that alone consists our resemblance 
 to men." 
 
 The woodcutter, who was very simple, under- 
 stood little of this explanation; but, like many oth- 
 ers, had a profound respect for what he could not 
 comprehend. He bowed down to the ground, and 
 only requested the fairy to inform him why a su- 
 pernatural being so highly gifted could have fallen 
 into a pit prepared for wolves. 
 
 "It is," replied Coquette, "because I have an 
 enemy still more powerful than myself, the en- 
 chanter Barabapatapouf , the most wicked ogre in 
 the world; he has but three teeth, three hairs, one 
 eye, and is fifteen feet high. With all these charms 
 he happened to fall in love with me, and merely 
 for mischief I affected to accept him. He then in- 
 vited his friends to the nuptials; when, to his great 
 mortification, I took them to witness that I would 
 never be the wife of such a monster. Barabapata- 
 pouf was deeply incensed, swore to be revenged, 
 and has never lost an opportunity of keeping his 
 word. I should have remained three days in that 
 horrible pit but for the generosity of your chil- 
 dren." 
 
 "They have done nothing more than their 
 duty," replied the woodcutter. 
 
150 ADVENTURES OF A BROWNIE 
 
 "I must also do mine," said Coquette, "but my 
 power is limited. I can satisfy but two wishes, and 
 it is necessary that each of you should choose free- 
 ly, unbiased by the other. You must separate ac- 
 cordingly, and tomorrow, at early dawn, come to 
 inform me what you have all resolved on during 
 the night." 
 
 Mother Thomas was very uneasy in thinking 
 how she could accommodate the fairy, for neither 
 her children's beds nor her own were worthy of of- 
 fering to such a grand lady; but Coquette desired 
 her to feel at ease, as she would provide everything 
 needful. She then drew forth some grains of sand, 
 which she scattered on the floor. Instantly there 
 arose on the spot a bed of rose-leaves three feet 
 high; the bolster was of violets, heartsease, and 
 orange flowers, all breathing delicious perfumes. 
 
 Coquette warned Mother Thomas that if she 
 should speak once to her husband before she again 
 saw her, the wishes could not be realized. The 
 strictest injunctions were indeed necessary to pre- 
 vent their communicating on a subject which inter- 
 ested both so deeply. When day appeared, Co- 
 quette summoned them to her presence. 
 
 The woodcutter first came, and said, with his 
 usual simplicity, that he never could have believed 
 it so difficult to form a wish. Till that moment he 
 
THE WOODCUTTER'S DAUGHTER 151 
 
 had considered himself happy, but now finding it 
 possible to obtain one thing, he desired a thousand. 
 Wearied with the fatigue of thought, he had fallen 
 asleep without coming to a determination; but see- 
 ing in his dreams five purses filled with gold, it 
 seemed as if one were for him, one for his wife, and 
 one for each of his children. 
 
 "Well," said Coquette, "these purses are ap- 
 parently your desire; go then to the bin where you 
 deposit your bread and you will find them. Only 
 say how many pounds you wish them to contain." 
 
 "Of, if there were but a hundred pounds in 
 each," replied Thomas, "that would be sufficient to 
 extend our little commerce, and send our wooden 
 shoes to China itself." 
 
 "Your wish is accomplished," said the fairy; 
 "go away, and permit your wife to come in her 
 turn." 
 
 The good dame had also passed a sleepless 
 night, and had never before been so much agitat- 
 ed or so unhappy. At last she suddenly said: "Ma- 
 dam fairy, I am very old, and what I desire most is 
 a daughter to assist me in household management 
 and to keep me company; my husband almost lives 
 in the woods and leaves me at break of day; my 
 sons also go about their business; we are without 
 neighbors, and I have nobody to speak to." 
 
152 ADVENTURES OF A BROWNIE 
 
 "Be it so," said the fairy; "you shall have the 
 prettiest daughter imaginable, and she shall speak 
 from her birth, in order that no time may be lost. 
 Call your husband and sons; I hope to find all part- 
 ies content/' 
 
 The little family assembled, but harmony was 
 not the result of their communications. The young 
 men thought their father's wish quite pitiful, and 
 the woodcutter by no means relished the idea of an- 
 other child. The fairy, however, provided an ex- 
 cellent breakfast, and the wine reanimated his 
 spirits. 
 
 Now I promise," said Coquette, "that you shall 
 have a daughter, who at the moment of her birth 
 will be endowed with the figure and the intelligence 
 of twelve years old. Call her Rose, for her com- 
 plexion shall shame the flower which bears that 
 name." 
 
 "And I pronounce that she shall also be as 
 black as ebony, and become, before the age of fif- 
 teen, the wife of a great king," said a very strong 
 voice in clear and distinct accents, accompanied by 
 shouts of laughter, which evidently proceeded 
 from a great pitcher placed at the corner of the 
 chimney. 
 
 The fairy Coquette turned pale, and conster- 
 
THE WOODCUTTER'S DAUGHTER 153 
 
 nation was general; but the woodcutter, now merry 
 with wine, joined in the laugh. "Ah! how droll," 
 said he; "red and black roses! A likely story, in- 
 deed, that a great king would come a-wooing to a 
 woodcutter's daughter. Only a pitcher could in- 
 vent such nonsense, and I shall teach it to utter 
 no more." 
 
 Thus saying, he gave the pitcher a great kick 
 and broke it in pieces, when there issued from it a 
 smoke thick and black, and so stifling that Co- 
 quette was obliged to use two bottles of essence 
 to dissipate its noxious effects. 
 
 "Ah, cruel Barabapatapouf !" cried she, "must 
 your malignity then extend even to those whom I 
 wish to benefit? I indeed recognize my enemy," 
 said she to the woodcutter; "beware of him, and be- 
 lieve that it is with no good intention he destines 
 your daughter for the bride of a king. Some mys- 
 tery is here concealed, foreboding evil." 
 
 Every one was rendered quite melancholy by 
 this adventure, and Coquette, beginning to weary 
 of these poor foresters, opened the window and 
 disappeared. 
 
 A great quarrel then arose between the wood- 
 cutter and his sons, who, forgetting that respect in 
 which they had never before failed, reproached 
 
154 ADVENTURES OF A BROWNIE 
 
 him for losing an opportunity of rendering them 
 all happy. "We might," said they, "have purchased 
 estates, finery of all kinds, and been as rich and 
 noble as many who now despise us. One or two 
 millions would have been as easy said as five hun- 
 dred pounds; that sum would obtain a marquisate 
 for our father, and baronies for each of us. What 
 extraordinary stupidity our parents have shown!" 
 
 "My children," said the woodcutter, "are these 
 things, then, necessary for happiness? It appeared 
 to me that you were well satisfied when our master 
 only made our poverty a little less oppressive; and 
 now, while you have more gold than you ever saw 
 in your lives, one would suppose that you had been 
 deeply injured, and could never know contentment 
 more." 
 
 As for Mother Thomas, she was wiser, and so 
 well pleased with the idea of her daughter that her 
 imagination roamed no further. In course of time 
 she gave birth to an infant; but scarcely had it seen 
 the light than it glided from her arms, and started 
 up to the stature of a well-formed girl of twelve or 
 thirteen years old, who made a low courtesy to the 
 woodcutter, kissed the hand of her mother, and of- 
 fered her brothers a cordial embrace. But these 
 lads ill-naturedly repulsed the young stranger; 
 
THE WOODCUTTER'S DAUGHTER 155 
 
 they felt jealous, fearing that she would now be 
 preferred to them. 
 
 Rose, one might say, was born dressed, for 
 flowing ringlets fell around her shoulders, forming 
 a complete covering; and with her increase of size 
 appeared a little smart petticoat and brown bodice 
 in peasant fashion. Her delicate feet were clad in 
 wooden shoes, but both the feet and the shoes were 
 so shapely that any lady in the land might have 
 been proud to exhibit them. Her little plump hand 
 was so white that it hardly appeared formed for 
 rustic labors, yet she immediately prepared to as- 
 sist in household matters, and the poor old dame 
 was never weary of caressing such a charming 
 child. 
 
 A bed was prepared for Rose beside her mother. 
 This good girl arose at dawn to prepare the young 
 men's breakfast; for she had an excellent natural 
 disposition, and so much intelligence that she 
 seemed to know by instinct that her birth was dis- 
 pleasing to them, and sought to gain their regard 
 by good-natured attentions. 
 
 Mother Thomas soon rose likewise, and re- 
 turned to the kitchen. But what was her horror 
 on beholding her daughter's face black as ebony, 
 her hair woolly and crisped like a negro's! As 
 there was no mirror in the cottage, Rose could not 
 
156 ADVENTURES OF A BROWNIE 
 
 understand what had so alarmed her mother; she 
 asked if she had involuntarily had the misfortune 
 to give offense. 
 
 "No, no/' said the old dame, weeping; "shouldst 
 thou remain all thy life as black as ink, I shall not 
 love thee less; but I cannot without pain recall thy 
 beauties of yesterday. Thou wilt be laughed at; 
 and us too. Still, we will keep thee — thou must 
 never leave us." 
 
 Rose readily promised she never would. But 
 when her brothers returned, they considered the 
 change in her quite as a matter of course. They 
 recollected the prediction of the pitcher, and 
 seemed quite delighted to think that, since it was 
 fulfilled in the first instance, they might yet be- 
 come the brothers of a queen. 
 
 Meanwhile they lived on better terms with 
 Rose, hoping that one day she might be of service 
 to them. 
 
 But, strange to say, Rose was not always 
 black; every second day she recovered her natural 
 beauty, from whence it might be concluded that 
 the influence of the fairy and the enchanter Bara- 
 patapouf operated alternately. The woodcutter's 
 family grew gradually accustomed to these suc- 
 cessions; and as habit reconciles people to all 
 things, each color became indifferent to them. 
 
THE WOODCUTTER'S DAUGHTER 157 
 
 Thomas was too old to change his mode of 
 life; he would not hear of going to live in town, 
 although they had money sufficient for that pur- 
 pose; he also still continued the making of wooden 
 shoes. Those which Rose wore in winter were 
 trimmed with lamb's-wool, which she wrought 
 very dexterously; she was clever and ingenious, 
 but, it must be confessed, a little imperious. 
 
 A year passed. Rose grew tall, and her broth- 
 ers, weary of waiting for an event so uncertain 
 as her marriage with a king, executed a crime 
 which they had long meditated. Seeing that their 
 father had touched but one of the purses, they easi- 
 ly obtained possession of the rest, and rising with 
 the dawn, all three departed. 
 
 The woodcutter and his wife did not at first 
 comprehend the extent of their misfortune. They 
 thought their children must have gone astray in 
 the forest, and the old man wandered everywhere 
 in search of them. But when he observed the loss 
 of the purses, the truth was revealed, and he felt 
 ready to die with grief. "Cursed gold!" cried he, 
 "thou hast corrupted my brave and honest boys; 
 they were poor, but virtuous; they are now become 
 villains, and will meet punishment from either 
 man or God!" 
 
158 ADVENTURES OF A BROWNIE 
 
 Thus saying he took the remaining purse 
 and flung it into the bottom of a well. Mother 
 Thomas was vexed, but dared not speak, for the 
 unfortunate man was so much irritated and 
 troubled that he would have beaten her. 
 
 When his reason cleared a little, however, he 
 felt that he had committed an error in parting 
 with his money, they being both old and unable 
 to work as formerly. 
 
 The dame sold some articles which had been 
 purchased during their prosperity. But poverty 
 was nothing, it was the conduct of their sons which 
 inflicted the bitter sting. 
 
 How was this then augmented, when some of- 
 ficers of justice arrived and announced that James, 
 Peter, and Paul had been arrested. It seemed that 
 while drinking together in a public house, they had 
 spread on a table all their gold. The host sur- 
 prised them, and not believing that young pea- 
 sants, so coarsely clothed and wearing wooden 
 shoes, could lawfully be in possession of such a 
 sum, he had given them in charge. The poor boys, 
 quite terrified, related the story of the fairy Co- 
 quette; but as the magistrate had never seen a 
 fairy, he did not believe one word of the matter. 
 
 Meantime they arrested the woodcutter for 
 
THE WOODCUTTER'S DAUGHTER 159 
 
 the purpose of identifying his children. Pale, and 
 trembling like criminals, the old couple followed 
 the guards. Mother Thomas was ready to faint, 
 and doubly grieved for leaving poor Rose all alone, 
 especially as this was her day for being white and 
 beautiful. She begged her not to leave the house, 
 but to live on the milk of her sheep, and to bake 
 cakes of some meal which was in the bin. Their 
 adieus were heart-rending; although the soldiers 
 declared that in three days the forester should be 
 at liberty to return, provided the innocence of his 
 family was established. Rose believed them, and 
 endeavored to take courage. But a month and 
 more passed, and no tidings came of her parents. 
 She could not then prevent herself from wandering 
 a little on the highway. 
 
 One evening, being more worn out than usual, 
 she seated herself at the foot of a tree and fell 
 asleep. A slight noise awoke her, and on looking 
 up, she perceived a young gentleman richly 
 dressed, who was contemplating her with evident 
 astonishment. "Art thou a goddess, or a simple 
 mortal?" cried he. 
 
 "Sir," replied Rose, "I am the daughter of a 
 poor woodcutter, who lives in the forest; it is late, 
 and I beg you will not detain me." 
 
160 ADVENTURES OF A BROWNIE 
 
 "You are a wayward beauty, indeed!" replied 
 the prince, for so he was; "but as my way lies in 
 that direction, I hope you will permit me to see you 
 home." 
 
 "It is not in my power to prevent you," said 
 Rose, without raising- her eyes. 
 
The Woodcutter's 'Daughter- 
 
 <PART II 
 
 The prince at this moment remarked that she 
 had been weeping, and delighted to have an op- 
 portunity of offering sympathy and consolation, 
 entreated her to impart her grief to him. "I am 
 not actuated by mere curiosity," added he; "I never 
 can behold a woman in tears without feeling moved 
 to the bottom of my soul! Tell me your distress, 
 and I will neither sleep nor eat till I have aided 
 you." Rose timidly raised her lovely blue eyes, to 
 see whether the countenance of the prince har- 
 monized with his discourse; but although he was 
 not actually ugly, his feathers wore an expression 
 too stern and hypocritical to invite her confidence. 
 She therefore walked silently forward, and when 
 near the cottage felt so uneasy that for the first 
 time she invented a lie in order to get rid of him. 
 "You seem to compassionate my sorrows," said 
 she; "meanwhile you only increase them. When 
 my mothers sees me accompanied by a great gen- 
 tleman like you, she will beat me, and not believe 
 that you have followed me against my will." 
 
162 ADVENTURES OF A BROWNIE 
 
 This reasoning appeared so just to the prince, 
 who felt himself affected by a passion such as he 
 had never before experienced, that he consented 
 to retire, entreating Rose to meet him the next 
 evening at the same hour. She refused to give a 
 decisive answer and returned home much deject- 
 ed, recalling all the words of the stranger, and al- 
 most reproaching herself for having behaved so 
 harshly to him. 
 
 The following day Rose took mechanically the 
 same route, going always in the path by which 
 her parents might be expected. Her provisions 
 being nearly exhausted she feared to die of hun- 
 ger, and began to think that this gentleman, who 
 had been repulsed so rudely, could, perhaps, obtain 
 news of her family. Suddenly beholding him lean- 
 ing against a tree, looking very melancholy and 
 dejected, she threw herself at his feet, bathed in 
 tears, and said: 
 
 "Sir, a wretch who has lost everything* dear 
 supplicates your compassion. You are so kind — 
 so tender-hearted — " 
 
 "What does the vile creature want?" exclaimed 
 the prince, with a savage expression. "How dare 
 you have the impertinence to address me? I won- 
 der what prevents me from shooting you. I lost 
 
THE WOODCUTTER'S DAUGHTER 163 
 
 my sport all yesterday in following- a pretty girl; 
 here is game of a new description." 
 
 Rose started up, overwhelmed with terror, 
 while the prince laughed most brutally. It was not 
 till that moment she recollected that this was her 
 black day, which accounted for his not recognizing 
 her. "Ah!" thought she, "this is the humane man 
 who could not behold a woman weep; because my 
 color displeases him, he is ready to take my life. 
 No hope now remains for me — my misfortunes are 
 at their height!" 
 
 Rose wept all night; yet she could not prevent 
 herself from returning to the same spot on the 
 following day; she felt irresistibly led thither, 
 dreading, and yet wishing to meet the prince. 
 
 He had been already waiting above an hour, 
 and accosted her with a degree of respect quite 
 unusual for him; but he was in love, and love makes 
 the worst of people better for the time. 
 
 "Cruel beauty!" said he, in a courtier-like 
 style, to which Rose was little accustomed, "what 
 have I not suffered during your absence! I even 
 remained all night in the wood, in expectation of 
 you, and the queen, my mother, dispatched mes- 
 sengers everywhere, fearing some accident had 
 befallen me." 
 
164 ADVENTURES OF A BROWNIE 
 
 "The queen, your mother!" exclaimed Rose. 
 "Are you then the son of a queen?" 
 
 "I have betrayed myself!" said the prince, 
 striking- his forehead in a theatrical manner. "Yes, 
 it is true, I have that misfortune. You will now 
 fear me; and what we fear, we never love." 
 
 "The wicked alone are to be feared," an- 
 swered Rose. "I am very glad to hear that you 
 are a king, for I know that you will be my hus- 
 band." 
 
 The prince, who little guessed the enchanter's 
 communication, was confounded by the unem- 
 barrassed freedom of her manner; but it was far 
 from displeasing to him. "You are ambitious," 
 said he, smiling; "but there is nothing to which 
 beauty may not pretend. Tell me only how I can 
 have the happiness of serving you, and you shall 
 see that everything is possible to love." 
 
 Rose sat down on the grass and related in 
 very simple terms the story of the purse; confessed 
 that she had deceived him, and that, so far from 
 being severely treated at home, sho was now weep- 
 ing her mother's loss; that the king must take 
 measures for the discovery and liberation of her 
 family, before he could hope to win her affections 
 or pretend to her hand. 
 
THE WOODCUTTER'S DAUGHTER 165 
 
 The enamored monarch vowed he would not 
 lose a moment; and although she behaved with 
 much dignity, her every word and look was adora- 
 ble in his eyes. Rose thought all night of the fine 
 fortune of being a queen; she would then no longer 
 wear wooden shoes; and, above all, might have an 
 opportunity of being useful to her dear parents. 
 
 These meetings continued every alternate 
 day during a week; and the queen dowager was in- 
 formed that her son neglected all business, and 
 thought of nothing but making love. She was in 
 despair. The prince was surnamed the Terrible, 
 by reason of his ferocity to women; till that mo- 
 ment he had never loved, but he had frequently 
 made pretense of it, and when successful, it was 
 not unusual with him to cut out the poor ladies' 
 tongues, put out their eyes, or even throw them 
 into the sea. The least pretext sufficed for this; 
 and the queen, who was of a kind disposition, la- 
 mented that yet another victim was preparing. 
 The courtiers begged her to be tranquil; said it 
 was nothing more than the daughter of a poor 
 woodcutter whom his majesty now admired, and 
 that if he did kill her, it would be of little conse- 
 quence. 
 
 But the courtiers, and the queen dowager her- 
 self, were altogether bewildered when the king, 
 
166 ADVENTURES OF A BROWNIE 
 
 having liberated the woodcutter and his family, 
 brought Rose to the palace as his wife. She was 
 not at all abashed or out of countenance; she be- 
 haved with the utmost respect to the queen, and 
 with affability to all. 
 
 A grand ball was given in the evening. Rose 
 danced well enough for a queen; and she yielded 
 herself up entirely to the enchantment of such a 
 happy day. The prince, ever eager to be near her, 
 was figuring away in a quadrille, when twelve 
 o'clock struck; great, then, was his astonishment, 
 while gazing passionately on his partner, he beheld 
 — anegress! 
 
 "What metamorphosis is this?" cried he, rude- 
 ly seizing her arm; "where is the princess I married 
 today?" 
 
 Rose bent her head in confusion; it still bore 
 her diamonds and her crown — no doubt could exist 
 of her identity. 
 
 "Wretched, hideous black, thou shalt surely 
 die!" cried the king; "none shall deceive me with 
 impunity." He then drew a poniard and was pre- 
 paring to take instant vengeance, when, recollect- 
 ing himself — "I do thee too much honor," said he; 
 "rather let my cooks cut thee in pieces to make a 
 hash for my hounds." 
 
THE WOODCUTTER'S DAUGHTER 167 
 
 The old queen, as humane as her son was cruel, 
 knew there was but one means of saving the un- 
 fortunate victim; this was to appear still more en- 
 raged than the king. 
 
 "I truly feel this injury/' said she; "sometimes 
 you have reproached my weakness, but now be- 
 hold a proof that I also can avenge. Your orders 
 must be strictly fulfilled — I myself shall witness 
 the execution." She then signed to the guards to 
 lay hold of the unfortunate Rose, who was dragged 
 away by an iron chain fastened round her neck. 
 She gave herself up for lost, and uttering the most 
 heart-rending cries, was led away to a pigeon- 
 house at the end of the palace, furnished with some 
 clean straw; here, however, the queen promised to 
 come on the following day. 
 
 Her majesty kept her word. Much affected by 
 the sweetness of the hapless bride, she promised 
 to mitigate, as far as possible, her malancholy situ- 
 ation. 
 
 Rose, very grateful, supplicated her benefact- 
 ress to inform the woodcutter's family that she was 
 still alive. The queen promised to employ a confi- 
 dential domestic; and Rose, who had still preserved 
 her wooden shoes, sent one, that her father might 
 recognize his handiwork. 
 
168 ADVENTURES OF A BROWNIE 
 
 A few days afterward a young peasant arrived 
 from the cottage; he brought some cakes and 
 cheese, made by Mother Thomas, which Rose pre- 
 ferred to all the delicacies of the palace. 
 
 This young peasant, who was named Mirto, re- 
 lated to Rose everything concerning her dear par- 
 ents, and took back very loving messages from her 
 to them. 
 
 Mirto found so much pleasure in conversing 
 with the fair prisoner, and so often had cakes to 
 carry, that they were seldom apart. He said he 
 was an orphan, and having some work to do in the 
 prison where Thomas had been confined, there 
 formed a friendship with the family. In return for 
 some little services then rendered them, he desired 
 to learn the trade of the wooden shoes; being very 
 ingenious, he became a valuable acquisition. He 
 never had felt so happy before. In truth, he was 
 not aware that this happiness received its date 
 from the hour in which he first saw Rose. 
 
 Alas! poor Rose was only too sensible of his 
 affection, and feeling the duty of struggling 
 against it, found herself still more miserable than 
 before. 
 
 "Whatever may be the conduct of Prince Ter- 
 rible," said she to herself, "I have married him. It 
 
THE WOODCUTTER'S DAUGHTER 169 
 
 is certainly very hard to love a husband who 
 wished to kill me, but still I should not permit my- 
 self to love another." 
 
 For a whole month following she had sufficient 
 resolution to see Mirto no more, and was becoming 
 sick with chagrin and weariness. 
 
 At length, one day, Rose heard a great noise 
 in the palace. People kept running to and fro — 
 all the bells were rung and all the cannons fired. 
 The poor prisoner mounted up to one of the pigeon- 
 holes, and peeping through, perceived the palace 
 hung with black. She knew not what to think. But 
 soon one of the queen's officers appeared, and con- 
 ducted her in due form to the court. Rose, all 
 trembling, inquired what had happened. 
 
 "Your majesty is a widow," replied the officer; 
 "the king has been killed in hunting; here are your 
 weeds, of which the queen begs your acceptance." 
 
 The queen was a tender mother, and although 
 fully conscious of the ferocious disposition of her 
 son, she deeply lamented him, and wept bitterly on 
 embracing her daughter-in-iaw. "Your husband 
 is no more," said she; "forget his errors, my dear 
 child; the remainder of my life shall be devoted to 
 making atonement for them." 
 
 The princess threw herself at her benefac- 
 
170 ADVENTURES OF A BROWNIE 
 
 tress' feet, and declared all was forgotten. "If 
 your majesty deigns to permit me to speak candid- 
 ly," added she, "and will bestow a moment's atten- 
 tion, I shall confess the dearest wish of my 
 heart!" 
 
 "Speak," said the queen; "nothing now can as- 
 sauge my grief save an opportunity of proving to 
 you my friendship." 
 
 "I was not born for a queen," continued Rose. 
 "My mother is a poor forester, but she has been a 
 tender parent, and weeps incessantly for my ab- 
 sence." 
 
 "Let her be conducted hither," replied the 
 queen. 
 
 "This is not all, madam," continued Rose. "I 
 confess that I love a young peasant, who has as- 
 sisted my father to make wooden shoes. If I were 
 the wife of Mirto, and your majesty would have 
 the goodness to give some assistance to my fami- 
 ly, my old father might be freed from labor, and 
 I the happiest woman in the world." 
 
 The queen embraced Rose, and promised all 
 she wished. She then conducted her to the forest; 
 and just as they had reached its boundary, they 
 perceived in the air a mahogany car, mounted on 
 wheels of mother-o'-pearl; two pretty white lambs 
 
THE WOODCUTTERS DAUGHTER 171 
 
 were yoked to it, which Rose immediately recog- 
 nized as those of the fairy Coquette. 
 
 The car descended, and the fairy, alighting, 
 thus addressed the queen: "Madam, I come to seek 
 my child, and am delighted to find you willing to 
 part with her, for she has a lover of whom I ap- 
 prove; who loves her faithfully, though hopelessly, 
 which is a thing more rare than all the treasures 
 of your majesty's crown." 
 
 The fairy then addressing herself to Rose re- 
 lated that her enemy, the enchanter Barabapata- 
 pouf , had just been killed in combat with another 
 giant. "Now," added Coquette, "I have full power 
 to render you happy;" and passing her fair hand 
 over Rose's face, the negro color and features van- 
 ished — to reappear no more. 
 
 The queen, convinced that her daughter-in- 
 law required nothing further, offered only her por- 
 trait as a token of esteem and friendship. Rose 
 received it with grateful respect, then ascended 
 the fairy's car, and was in a few minutes surround- 
 ed by the foresters, who never wearied of caressing 
 her. Poor Mirto drew back, trembling, not know- 
 ing whether to hope or fear; but Coquette, per- 
 ceiving their mutual embarrassment, declared 
 that she had ordained this marriage from the very 
 beginning. She blessed them, gave them a flock of 
 
172 
 
 ADVENTURES OF A BROWNIE 
 
 beautiful white sheep, a cottage covered with 
 honey-suckles and roses, a lovely garden abound- 
 ing with fruits and flowers, and a moderate sum 
 of money; endowing them also with life for a hun- 
 dred years, uninterrupted health, and constant 
 love. 
 
 '&&>* 
 
TKe bluebird 
 
.«■» 
 
c I\\e bluebird 
 
 A POWERFUL and wealthy king, having lost his 
 wife, was so inconsolable that he shut himself 
 up for eight entire days in a little cabinet, where 
 he spent his time knocking his head against the 
 wall, until the courtiers were afraid he would kill 
 himself. At last there presented herself before 
 him a lady, covered from head to foot in a long 
 crape veil, who wept and sobbed so much that the 
 king noticed her. She told him that she did not 
 come, like the rest, to console him, but rather to en- 
 courage his grief. She herself had lost the best of 
 husbands, and here she began to weep so profusely 
 that it was a wonder her eyes were not melted out 
 of her head. The king began to weep in company, 
 and to talk to her of his dear wife — she did the 
 same of her dear husband; in fact, they talked so 
 much that they talked their sorrow quite away. 
 Then, lifting up her veil, she showed lovely blue 
 eyes and dark eyelashes. The king noticed her 
 more and more — he spoke less and less of the de- 
 parted queen; by and by he ceased to speak of her 
 
178 ADVENTURES OF A BROWNIE 
 
 at all. The end was that he courted the incon- 
 solable lady in the black veil and married her. 
 
 By his first marriage he had one daughter, 
 called Fiorina, or the little Flora, because she was 
 so fresh and lovely; at the time of his second mar- 
 riage she was quite fifteen years old. The new 
 queen also had a daughter, who was being brought 
 up by her godmother, the fairy Soussio — her name 
 Was Troutina, because her complexion was all 
 spotted like a trout's back. Indeed, she was alto- 
 gether ugly and disagreeable; and when contrast- 
 ed with Fiorina, the difference between the two 
 made the mother so envious that she and Troutina 
 spared no pains to make the princess' life unhap- 
 py, and to speak ill of her to her father. 
 
 One day the king observed that both girls 
 were now old enough to be married, and that he 
 intended to choose for one of them the first prince 
 who visited his court. 
 
 "Be it so," said the queen; "and as my daughter 
 is older, handsomer, and more amiable than yours, 
 she shall have the first choice." The king disput- 
 ed nothing; indeed, he never did — the queen ruled 
 him in all things. 
 
 Some time after, news came that King Charm- 
 ing would shortly arrive, and that he was as charm- 
 
THE BLUEBIRD 179 
 
 ing as his name. When the queen heard this news, 
 she sent for milliners, dress-makers, jewelers, and 
 decked Troutina from head to foot; but to Fiorina 
 she allowed not a single new frock. The poor 
 princess had to put on her old one, which was very 
 old and shabby indeed; she was so much ashamed 
 of it that she hid herself in a corner of the salon, 
 lest King Charming should see her. But he did 
 not, being overwhelmed with the ceremonious re- 
 ception given him by the queen, who presented 
 to him Troutina, all blazing with jewels, yet so 
 ugly that King Charming involuntarily turned 
 away his eyes. 
 
 "But, madam, is there not another princess, 
 called Fiorina?" 
 
 They pointed to the corner where Fiorina was 
 hidden, and she came out, blushing so much that 
 the young king was dazzled with her beauty, in 
 spite of her shabby gown. He rose and made her 
 a profound reverence, paying her besides so many 
 elegant compliments that the queen became very 
 much displeased. King Charming took no heed, 
 but conversed with Fiorina for three hours with- 
 out stopping. Indeed, his admiration of her was 
 so plain, that the queen and Troutina begged of 
 the king that she might be shut up in a tower dur- 
 ing the whole time of King Charming's visit; so, 
 
180 ADVENTURES OF A BROWNIE 
 
 as soon as she had returned to her apartment, four 
 men in masks entered and carried her off, leaving* 
 her in a dark cell, and in the utmost desolation. 
 
 Meantime King Charming eagerly awaited 
 her reappearance, but he saw her no more; and by 
 the queen's orders, every one about him spoke all 
 the evil they could of poor Fiorina, but he refused 
 to believe one word. "No/' said he, "nature could 
 not have united a base nature to such a sweet, in- 
 nocent face. I will rather suppose that she is 
 maligned by her step-mother and by Troutina, who 
 is so ugly herself that no wonder she bears envy 
 toward the fairest woman in the world." 
 
 The queen, to win King Charming for her 
 daughter, made him many presents; among the 
 rest an order of knighthood, a golden heart, en- 
 ameled in flame-color, surrounded with many ar- 
 rows, but pierced by one only, the motto being, 
 "She alone." The heart was made of a single ruby 
 as big as an ostrich's egg. Each arrow was a dia- 
 mond, a finger's length, and the chain was of 
 pearls, each weighing a pound. When the young 
 king received this very handsome present, he was 
 much perplexed, until they told him it came from 
 the princess whom he had lately seen, and who re- 
 quested him to be her knight. 
 
 "Fiorina!" cried he, enchanted. 
 
THE BLUEBIRD 181 
 
 "No, Troutina." 
 
 "Then I am sorry I cannot accept the honor," 
 replied King Charming. "A monarch is surely at 
 liberty to form his own engagements. I know what 
 is a knight's duty to his lady, and should wish to 
 fulfill it; as I cannot fulfill it to Troutina, I would 
 rather decline the favor she offers me than become 
 unworthy of it." 
 
 Civil as this answer was, it irritated the queen 
 and her daughter exceedingly; and when he at 
 last inquired where the younger princess was, the 
 queen answered fiercely that she was shut up in 
 prison, and would remain there till Troutina was 
 married. 
 
 "And for what reason?" asked King Charm- 
 ing. 
 
 "I do not know; and if I did, I would not tell 
 you," replied the queen more angrily than ever; 
 so that King Charming quitted her presence as 
 soon as ever he could. 
 
 When he was alone, he sent for one of his at- 
 tendants, whom he trusted very much, and begged 
 him to gain information from some court lady 
 about the Princess Fiorina. This scheme suc- 
 ceeded so well that Fiorina was persuaded to 
 promise she would speak to him for a few moments 
 
182 ADVENTURES OF A BROWNIE 
 
 next night, from a small window at the bottom of 
 the tower. But the faithless lady-in-waiting be- 
 trayed her to the queen, who locked her up in her 
 chamber, and determined to send her own 
 daughter to the window instead. The night was so 
 dark that King Charming never found out the 
 difference, but made to Troutina all the tender 
 speeches that he meant for Fiorina, offering her 
 his crown and his heart, and ending by placing his 
 own ring on her finger, as a pledge of eternal fideli- 
 ty. He also made her agree to fly with him next 
 night, in a chariot drawn by winged frogs, of 
 which a great magician, one of his friends, had 
 made him a present. He thought she talked very 
 little, and that little not in quite so pleasing a voice 
 as formerly; still, he was too much in love to no- 
 tice much, and departed very joyful in having ob- 
 tained her promise. 
 
 Next night Troutina, thickly veiled, quitted 
 the palace by a secret door. King Charming met 
 her, received her in his arms, and vowed to love 
 her forever. Then he lifted her into the fairy char- 
 iot, and they sailed about in the air for some 
 hours. At last he proposed that they should de- 
 scend to earth and be married. Troutina agreed 
 with all her heart, but wished that the ceremony 
 should be performed at her godmother's, the fairy 
 Soussio. So they entered together into the fairy 
 
THE BLUEBIRD 183 
 
 palace, and she told her godmother privately how 
 all had happened, and how she had won King- 
 Charming, begging the fairy to pacify him when 
 he found out his mistake. 
 
 "My child," replied the godmother, "that is 
 more easily said than done; he is too deeply in 
 love with Fiorina." 
 
 Meantime the king was left waiting in a cham- 
 ber with diamond walls, so thin and transparent 
 that through them he heard Troutina and Soussio 
 conversing together. He stood like a man in a 
 dream: "What! am I betrayed? Has this enemy to 
 my peace carried away my dear Fiorina?" 
 
 How great was his despair when Soussio said 
 to him in commanding voice, "King Charming, be- 
 hold the Princess Troutina, to whom you have 
 promised your faith; marry her immediately!" 
 
 "Do you think me a fool?" cried the king. "I 
 have promised her nothing. She is — " 
 
 "Stop — if you show any disrespect — " 
 
 "I will respect you as much as a fairy deserves 
 to be respected, if you will only give me back my 
 princess." 
 
 "I am she," said Troutina. "It was to me you 
 gave this ring; to me you spoke at the window." 
 
184 ADVENTURES OF A BROWNIE 
 
 "I have been wickedly deceived!" cried the 
 king; "come, my winged frogs, we will depart im- 
 mediately." 
 
 "You cannot," said Soussio; and, touching 
 him, he found himself fixed as if his feet were glued 
 to the pavement. 
 
 "You may turn me into stone!" exclaimed he; 
 "but I will love no one except Fiorina." 
 
 Soussio employed persuasions, threats, prom- 
 ises, entreaties. Troutina wept, groaned, shrieked, 
 and then tried quiet sulkiness; but the king ut- 
 tered not a word. For twenty days and twenty 
 nights he stood there, without sleeping, or eating, 
 or once sitting down — they talking all the while. 
 
 At length Soussio, quite worn out, said: 
 "Choose seven years of penitence and punishment, 
 or marry my goddaughter." 
 
 "I choose," answered the king; "and I will not 
 marry your goddaughter." 
 
 "Then fly out of this window in the shape of 
 a bluebird." • 
 
 Immediately the king's figure changed. His 
 arms formed themselves into wings; his legs and 
 feet turned black and thin, and claws grew upon 
 them; his body wasted into the slender shape of a 
 
HE FLEW AWAY FROM THE PALACE OF SOUISSA 
 
186 ADVENTURES OF A BROWNIE 
 
 bird, and was covered with bright blue feathers; 
 his eyes became round and beady; his nose an ivory 
 beak; and his crown was a white plume on the top 
 of his head. He began to speak in a singing voice, 
 and then, uttering a doleful cry, fled away as far 
 as possible from the fatal palace of Soussio. 
 
 But though he looked only a bluebird, the king 
 was his own natural self still, and remembered all 
 his misfortunes, and did not cease to lament for his 
 beautiful Fiorina. Flying from tree to tree, he 
 sang melancholy songs about her and himself, 
 and wished he were dead many a time. 
 
 The fairy Soussio sent Troutina back to her 
 mother, who was furious. "Fiorina shall repent 
 having pleased King Charming!" cried she; and 
 dressing her own daughter in rich garments, with 
 a gold crown on her head, and King Charming's 
 ring on her finger, she took her to the tower. 
 "Fiorina, your sister is come to see and bring you 
 marriage presents, for she is now the wife of King 
 Charming." 
 
 Fiorina, doubting no more her lover's loss, fell 
 down in a swoon, and the queen immediately went 
 to tell her father that she was mad for love, and 
 must be watched closely lest she should in some 
 way disgrace herself. The king said her stepmoth- 
 er might do with her exactly what she pleased. 
 
THE BLUEBIRD 187 
 
 When the princess recovered from her swoon, 
 she began to weep, and wept all night long, sitting 
 at the open window of her tower. The bluebird, 
 happened to come and perch upon a tall cypress 
 opposite the window, and heard her, but it was too 
 dark to see who she was, and at daylight she shut 
 the window. 
 
Tlie ^Bluebird 
 
 PART II 
 
 Next night, it was broad moonlight, and then 
 he saw clearly the figure of a young girl, weeping 
 and knew that it was his beloved Fiorina. 
 
 When she paused in her lamentations, "Ador- 
 able princess," said he, "why do you mourn? Your 
 troubles are not without remedy." 
 
 "Who speaks to me so gently?" asked she. 
 
 "A king, who loves you, and will never love 
 any other." 
 
 So saying he flew up to the window, and at 
 first frightened the princess very much, for she 
 could not understand such an extraordinary thing 
 as a bird who talked in words like a man, yet kept 
 still the piping voice of a nightingale. But soon 
 she began stroking his beautiful plumage and 
 caressing him. 
 
 "Who are you, charming bird?" 
 
 "You have spoken my name. I am King 
 
ADVENTURES OF A BROWNIE 189 
 
 Charming, condemned to be a bird for seven years, 
 because I will not renounce you." 
 
 "Ah ! do not deceive me. I know you have mar- 
 ried Troutina. She came to visit me with your dia- 
 monds on her neck, and your ring on her finger, 
 wearing the golden crown and royal mantel which 
 you had given her, while I was laden with iron 
 chains. 
 
 "It is all false," sang the bluebird, and told 
 her his whole story, which comforted her so much 
 that she thought no more of her misfortunes. They 
 conversed till daybreak, and promised faithfully 
 every night to meet again thus. 
 
 The beautiful bluebird, hid in a hollow tree, 
 spent the hours in thinking of his princess. And 
 as he wished to pay her all the attentions that a 
 lover delights in, he flew to his own kingdom, en- 
 tered his palace by an open window, and sought 
 for some diamond ear-rings, which he brought 
 back in his beak, and when night came, offered 
 them to Fiorina. So night after night he brought 
 her something beautiful, and they talked together 
 till day, when he flew back to the hollow tree, where 
 he sang her praises in a voice so sweet that passers- 
 by thought it was not a bird but a spirit. Rumors 
 went about that the place was haunted, and no 
 one would go near the spot. Thus for two years 
 
190 ADVENTURES OF A BROWNIE 
 
 Fiorina spent her time, and never once regretted 
 her captivity. 
 
 The malicious queen tried with all her might 
 to get Troutina married, but in vain. Nobody 
 would have her. "If it were Fiorina, now," said the 
 kings, or the kings' ambassadors, "we should be 
 most happy to sign the contract." 
 
 "That girl thwarts us still," said the queen. 
 "She must have some secret correspondence with 
 foreign suitors. But we will find her out and pun- 
 ish her." 
 
 The mother and daughter finished talking so 
 late that it was midnight before they reached Fio- 
 rina's apartment. She had dressed herself as usual, 
 with the utmost care, to please her bluebird, who 
 liked to see her lovely; and she had adorned her- 
 self with all the pretty things he had given her. 
 He perched on the window-sill, and she sat at the 
 window, and they were singing together a duet, 
 which the queen heard outside. She burst the door 
 open, and rushed into the chamber. 
 
 The first thing Fiorina did was to open her lit- 
 tle window that the bluebird might fly away. But 
 he would not. He had seen the queen and Troutina, 
 and though he could not defend his princess, he 
 refused to leave her. The two rushed upon her like 
 
THE BLUEBIRD 191 
 
 furies. Her wonderful beauty and her splendid 
 jewels startled them. "Whence came all these or- 
 naments?" cried they. 
 
 "I found them," replied Fiorina, and refused 
 to answer more. 
 
 "Some one has given them to you that you 
 might join in treason against your father and the 
 kingdom." 
 
 "Am I likely to do this? I, a poor princess, 
 kept in captivity for two years, with you as my 
 jailer?" 
 
 "In captivity," repeated the queen. "Why, 
 then, do you dress yourself so fine and adorn your 
 chamber with flowers?" 
 
 "I have leasure enough; I may just as well 
 spend some of it in adorning myself, instead of be- 
 moaning my misfortune — innocent as I am." 
 
 "Innocent, indeed!" cried the queen, and be- 
 gan to search the room. In it she found all King 
 Charming's presents — diamonds, rubies, emeralds, 
 amethysts — in short, jewels without end. Mean- 
 time, from the window the bluebird, who had the 
 eye of a lynx, sang aloud, "Beware, Fiorina!" 
 
 "You see, madam," said Fiorina, "even the 
 spirits of the air take pity upon me." 
 
192 ADVENTURES OF A BROWNIE 
 
 "I see that you are in league with demons; but 
 your father shall judge you;" and very much 
 frightened, the queen left her and went to hold 
 counsel with Troutina as to what was to be done. 
 They agreed to put in Fiorina's chamber a waiting- 
 maid, who should watch her from morning till 
 night. When the princess learned this she was in 
 great grief. 
 
 "Alas!" cried she, "I can no longer talk with 
 my bird who loved me so; and our love was conso- 
 lation for all our misfortunes. What will he do? 
 What shall I do?" And she melted into floods of 
 tears. 
 
 She dared not open the window, though she 
 heard continually his wings fluttering round it. 
 For more than a month she waited; but the serving 
 maid watched her night and day. At last, over- 
 come with weariness, the girl fell asleep, and then 
 Fiorina opened her little window, and sang in a 
 low voice: 
 
 "Bluebird, bluebird, 
 Come to my side." 
 
 The bluebird flew to the window-sill, and they 
 lavished on one another a hundred caresses, and 
 talked together till dawn. Next night was also 
 the same, till they began to hope that the waiting- 
 
THE BLUEBIRD 193 
 
 maid, who seemed to enjoy her sleep so much, would 
 sleep every night to come. But on the third night, 
 hearing a noise, she wakened, and saw by the light 
 of the moon the Princess Fiorina sitting at the win- 
 dow with a beautiful bluebird, who warbled in 
 her ear and touched her gently with his beak. The 
 spy listened and heard all their conversation, very 
 much astonished that a princess could be so fond 
 of a mere bird. When day came she related all to 
 the queen and Troutina, who concluded that the 
 bird could be no other than King Charming. They 
 sent the girl back, told her to express no curiosity, 
 but to feign sleep, and to go to bed earlier than 
 usual. Then the poor deceived princess opened her 
 little window, and sang her usual song: 
 
 "Bluebird, bluebird, 
 Come to my side." 
 
 But no bluebird appeared. The queen had 
 caused sharp knives to be hung outside the hollow 
 of the tree; he flew against them and cut his feet 
 and wings, till he dropped down, covered with 
 blood. 
 
 "Oh, Fiorina, come to my help!" sighed he. 
 "But she is dead, I know, and I will die also." 
 
194 ADVENTURES OF A BROWNIE 
 
 At that moment, his friend, the magician, who 
 since he had seen the chariot with flying frogs re- 
 turn without King Charming, had gone eight 
 times around the world in search of him, made his 
 ninth journey, and came to the tree where the poor 
 bluebird lay, calling out, "King Charming, King 
 Charming !" 
 
 The king recognized the voice of his best 
 friend; whereupon the magician took him out of the 
 hollow tree, healed his wounds, and heard all his 
 history. He persuaded King Charming that, over- 
 come with fear and cruel treatment, Fiorina must 
 have betrayed him. "Then do as you will with me!" 
 cried the king. "Put me into a cage and take me 
 back with you. I shall at least be safe there for the 
 five years that are to be endured." 
 
 "But," said the enchanter, "can you remain 
 five years in so undignified a position? And you 
 have enemies who will assuredly seize on your 
 kingdom." 
 
 "Why can I not return and govern it as be- 
 fore?" 
 
 "I fear," replied his friend, "that the thing is 
 difficult. Who would obey a bluebird?" 
 
 "Ah, that is too true!" cried the king sadly. 
 "People only judge by the outside." 
 
THE BLUEBIRD 195 
 
 Meantime Fiorina, overcome with grief, fell 
 dangerously sick, and in her sickness she kept sing- 
 ing, day and night, her little song: 
 
 "Bluebird, bluebird, 
 Come to my side." 
 
 But no one regarded her. 
 
 At last a sudden change took place in her for- 
 tunes. The king, her father, died and the people, 
 who knew she was the heir, began to inquire, with 
 one accord, where was the Princess Fiorina? They 
 assailed the palace in crowds, demanding her for 
 their sovereign. The riot became so dangerous 
 that Troutina and her mother fled away to the fairy 
 Soussio. Then the populace stormed the tower, res- 
 cued the sick and almost dying princess, and 
 crowned her as their queen. 
 
 The exceeding care that was taken of her, and 
 her longing to live in order to see again her blue- 
 bird, restored Fiorina's health and gave her 
 strength to call a council and arrange all the affairs 
 of her kingdom. Then she departed by night, and 
 alone, to go over the world in search of her blue- 
 bird. 
 
 The magician, who was King Charming's 
 friend, went to the fairy Soussio, whom he knew, 
 
196 ADVENTURES OF A BROWNIE 
 
 for they had quarreled and made it up again, as 
 fairies and magicians do, many times within the 
 last five or six hundred years. She received him 
 civilly and asked him what he wanted. He tried 
 to make a bargain with her, but could effect noth- 
 ing, unless King Charming would consent to marry 
 Troutina. The enchanter found this bride so ugly 
 that he could not advise. Still, the bluebird had 
 run so many risks in his cage; the nail it was hung 
 upon had broken, and the king suffered much in 
 the fall; Minette, the cat, had glowered at him with 
 her green eyes; the attendants had forgotten his 
 hemp-seed and his water-glass, so that he was half - 
 dying of hunger and thirst; and a monkey had 
 plucked at his feathers through the wires as disre- 
 spectfully as if, instead of a king, he had been a lin- 
 net or a jay. Worse than all, his heir spread re- 
 ports of his death, and threatened to seize on his 
 throne. 
 
 Under these circumstances the magician 
 thought it best to agree with Soussio that King 
 Charming should be restored to his kingdom and 
 his natural shape for six months, on condition that 
 Troutina should remain in his palace, and that he 
 should try to like her and marry her. If not, he was 
 to become again a bluebird. So he found himself 
 once more King Charming, and as charming as 
 ever; but would rather have been a bluebird and 
 
THE BLUEBIRD 197 
 
 near his beloved, than a king" in the society of 
 Troutina. 
 
 Meanwhile the Queen Fiorina, in a peasant's 
 dress, with a straw hat on her head, and a canvas 
 sack on her shoulder, began her journey; some- 
 times on horseback, sometimes on foot, sometimes 
 by sea, sometimes by land, wandering evermore 
 after her beloved King Charming. One day, stop- 
 ping beside a fountain, she let her hair fall loose, 
 and dipped her weary feet in the cool water, when 
 an old woman, bent, and leaning on a stick, came 
 by. 
 
 "My pretty maiden, what are you doing here 
 all alone?" 
 
 "Good mother," replied the queen, "I have too 
 many troubles to be pleasant company for any- 
 body." 
 
 ♦ 
 
 "Tell me your troubles, and I may be able to 
 soften them." 
 
 Fiorina obeyed and told her whole history, and 
 how she was traveling over the world in search of 
 the bluebird. The little woman listened attentive- 
 ly, and then, in the twinkling of an eye, became, in- 
 stead of an old woman, a beautiful fairy. 
 
 "Incomparable Fiorina, the king you seek is no 
 longer a bird; my sister Soussio has restored him 
 
198 ADVENTURES OF A BROWNIE 
 
 to his proper shape, and he reigns in his own king- 
 dom. Do not afflict yourself; happiness will yet be 
 yours. Take these four eggs, and whenever you 
 are in trouble, break one of them, and see what en- 
 sues." So saying the fairy vanished. 
 
 Fiorina, greatly comforted, put the eggs in her 
 sack and turned her steps toward the country of 
 King Charming. She walked eight days and 
 nights without stopping, and then came to a moun- 
 tain made entirely of ivory, and nearly perpendic- 
 ular. Despairing of ever climbing it, she sank 
 down at the foot, prepared to die there, when she 
 bethought herself of the eggs c So she broke one, 
 and inside it were little hooks of gold, which she 
 fitted to her feet, and hands, and by means of which 
 she climbed the mountain with ease. Arrived at 
 the summit she found new ifficulties; for the valley 
 below was one large smooth mirror. 
 
 The queen, uncertain what to do, broke the 
 second egg f and there flew out two pigeons har- 
 nessed to a fine chariot, in which Fiorina mounted, 
 and descended lightly over the mirror to the val- 
 ley's foot. "Now, my pretty pigeons/' said she, 
 "will you convey me to the palace of King Charm- 
 ing?" The obedient pigeons did so, flying day and 
 night till they reached the city gates. 
 
 How her heart beat as she entered and begged 
 
THE BLUEBIRD 199 
 
 to see the king! "You!" cried the servants mock- 
 ing. "Little peasant-girl, your eyes are not half 
 good enough to see the king. Besides, he is going 
 tomorrow to the temple with the Princess Troutina, 
 whom he has at last agreed to marry." 
 
 Fiorina sat down on a doorstep and hid hei 
 face under her straw hat and her drooping hair. 
 "Alas!" she cried, "my bluebird has forsaken me." 
 
 She neither ate nor slept, but rose with the 
 dawn and pushed her way through the guards to 
 the temple, where she saw two thrones, one for 
 King Charming, and the other for Troutina. They 
 arrived shortly; he more charming and she more 
 repulsive than ever. Knitting her brows, Troutina 
 exclaimed, "What creature is that who dares ap- 
 proach so near my golden throne?" 
 
 "I am a poor peasant-girl," said Fiorina, "I 
 come from afar to sell you curiosities." And she 
 took out of her sack the emerald bracelet which the 
 bluebird had given her. 
 
 "These are pretty trinkets," said Troutina; 
 and going up to the king she asked him what he 
 thought of them. At sight of the ornaments he 
 turned pale, remembering those he had given to 
 Fiorina. 
 
 "These bracelets are worth half my kingdom; 
 
200 ADVENTURES OF A BROWNIE 
 
 I did not think there had been more than one pair 
 in the world." 
 
 "Then I will buy these," said Troutina; but 
 Fiorina refused to sell them for money; the price 
 she asked was permission to sleep a night in the 
 chamber of echoes. 
 
 "As you will; your bargains are cheap 
 enough," replied Troutina, laughing; and when she 
 laughed she showed teeth like the tusks of a wild 
 boar. 
 
 Now the king, when he was a bluebird had in- 
 formed Fiorina about his chamber of echoes, where 
 every word spoken could be heard in his own cham- 
 ber; she could not have chosen a better way of re- 
 proaching him for his infidelity. But vain were her 
 sobs and complainings; the king had taken opium 
 to lull his grief; he slept soundly all night long. 
 Next day, Fiorina was in great disquietude. Could 
 he have really heard her, and been indifferent to 
 her sorrows; or had he not heard her at all? She 
 determined to buy another night in the chamber of 
 echoes; but she had no more jewels to tempt 
 Troutina; so she broke the third egg. Out of it 
 came a chariot of polished steel, inlaid with gold, 
 drawn by six green mice, the coachman being a 
 rose-colored rat, and the postilion a gray one. In- 
 
THE BLUEBIRD 201 
 
 side the carriage sat little puppets, who behaved 
 themselves just like live ladies and gentlemen. 
 
 When Troutina went to walk in the palace gar- 
 den, Fiorina awaited her in a green valley, and 
 made the mice gallop, and the ladies and gentle- 
 men bow, till the princess was delighted, and ready 
 to buy the curiosity at any price. Again Fiorina 
 exacted permission to pass the night in the cham- 
 ber of echoes; and again the king, undisturbed by 
 her lamentations, slept without waking till dawn. 
 
 The third day, one of the palace valets, passing 
 her by, said, "You stupid peasant-girl, it is well the 
 king takes opium every night, or you would disturb 
 him by that terrible sobbing of yours." 
 
 "Does he so?" said the queen, now compre- 
 hending all. "Then if you will promise tonight to 
 keep the opium cup out of his way, these pearls and 
 diamonds," and she took a handful of them from 
 her sack, "shall assuredly be yours." 
 
 The valet promised; and then Fiorina broke 
 her fourth egg, out of which came a pie composed 
 of birds, which, though they had been plucked, 
 baked, and made ready for the table, sang as 
 beautifully as birds that are alive. Troutina, 
 charmed with this marvelous novelty, bought it at 
 the same price as the rest, adding generously a 
 small piece of gold. 
 
202 ADVENTURES OF A BROWNIE 
 
 When all in the palace were asleep, Fiorina for 
 the last time, hoping King Charming would hear 
 her, called upon him with all sorts of tender ex- 
 pressions, reminding him of their former vows, 
 and their two years of happiness. "What have I 
 done to thee, that thou shouldst forget me and 
 marry Troutina?" sobbed she; and the king, who 
 this time was wide awake, heard her. He could not 
 make out whose voice it was, or whence it came, 
 but it somehow reminded him of his dearest Fio- 
 rina, whom he had never ceased to love. He called 
 his valet, inquired who was sleeping in the cham- 
 ber of echoes, and heard that it was the little pea- 
 sant-girl who had sold to Troutina the emerald 
 bracelet. Then he rose up, dressed himself hastily, 
 and went in search of her. She was sitting mourn- 
 fully on the floor, with her hair hiding her face, 
 and her eyes swollen with tears; but he knew at 
 once his faithful Fiorina. He fell on his knees be- 
 fore her, covered her hands with kisses, and they 
 embraced and wept together. For what was the 
 good of all their love when they were still in the 
 power of the fairy Soussio? 
 
 But at this moment appeared the friendly en- 
 chanter, with a fairy still greater than Soussio, the 
 one who had given Fiorina the four eggs. They 
 declared that their united power was stronger than 
 
THE BLUEBIRD 
 
 203 
 
 Soussio's, and that the lovers should be married 
 without further delay. 
 
 When this news reached Troutina, she ran to 
 the chamber of echoes, and there beheld her beauti- 
 ful rival, whom she had so cruelly afflicted. But 
 the moment she opened her mouth to speak, her 
 wicked tongue was silenced forever; for the magi- 
 cian turned her into a trout, which he flung out 
 of the window into the stream that flowed through 
 the castle garden. 
 
 As for King Charming and Queen Fiorina, de- 
 livered out of all their sorrows, and given to one 
 another, their joy was quite inexpressible, and it 
 lasted to the end of their lives. 
 
HEIDI 
 
 by JOHANNA SPYRI 
 
 EVERY CHILD, as well as all lovers of children, 
 should read this artfully written story by the 
 celebrated Swiss authoress. The heroine is a little 
 orphan girl who is sent to live with a crusty old grand- 
 father in his rude hut up on the high Alp mountains. 
 Her only child companion is Peter, the goatherd, but 
 she never gets lonely. She is too busy doing good 
 and just being happy up in her passionately-loved 
 mountains. She brings the light of love into a blind 
 woman's life, she softens the grandfather's heart — in 
 fact, this little girl is the spirit of Good. The world 
 is the better for the telling of this tale. If you are 
 looking for something that is worth while, buy this 
 book. It will ever be a favorite with younger read- 
 ers and those who seek their good. 
 
 Be sure and ask for the Whitman edition — nothing 
 like it for the price, on the market. Beautifully il- 
 lustrated by Alice Carsey, with 8 full page color, 
 eight full page black and white illustrations and six- 
 teen smaller drawings. 
 
 Size 93^x63^ Inches 
 
 For sale at all book stores, or sent (postage prepaid) 
 on receipt of the price, by the publishers 
 
 ^hitmainTTublishing Co. 
 
THE LAMBKIN SERIES 
 
 Written and Illustrated By Warner Carr 
 
 In this new departure from the usual animal stories for children 
 the author has written delightful and lovable stories that instruct 
 while they amuse, about little lambs and their companions. Each 
 story will surely endear itself forever in the child mind. 
 
 Attractive cover and pictures by the author. 
 
 LITTLE FRISKY LAMMIE 
 
 This book tells of Frisky's meeting with Brown Honey Bee, Jim- 
 mie Crow, Nibble Rabbit and other field animals. He learns how they 
 live because he is always wanting to learn about everything he sees. 
 
 MOLLIE'S BABY LAMMIE 
 
 Relates the affection of a mischievous little lamb for a little girl; 
 Baby Lammie's pranks, how Mollie's life is saved and many other 
 happenings. 
 
 LITTLE LOST LAMMIE 
 
 This is the story of the Little Lamb who was always running away 
 to get lost. The many adventures he meets with in the woods finally 
 satisfy Lost Lammie never again to become dissatisfied. 
 
 For sale by all dealers or sent (postage prepaid) on receipt of remittance by 
 
 "y^HITMAI>TTuBLISMlNO CO. 
 
New, Beautifully Illustrated Editions of 
 Famous Classics for YOUNG FOLKS 
 
 A CHILD'S GARDEN OF VERSES 
 
 THE WEAGE EDITION 
 
 By Robert Louis Stevenson, with 33 color and in black and white 
 pictures by Josephine Wheeler Weage. 
 
 This new volume contains all the verses originally published under 
 this title — a collection that long ago became a children's classic. The 
 type is new and large. Profusely illustrated with pen and ink and 
 colored illustrations that are as simple in style, as kindly in 
 sympathy, as fanciful in humor, and as appealing to the child as the 
 beautiful verses themselves. The book also contains an introduc- 
 tion, biography, and pronouncing vocabulary with definitions of words 
 given. One hundred thirty-two pages. When ordering this title 
 please mention the Weage (pronounced Wage) Edition. Cloth picture 
 cover. Size, 9*4x6*6. 
 
 LITTLE LAME PRINCE 
 
 By Miss Mulock, with 33 beautiful pictures by Josephine Wheeler 
 Weage. 
 
 A new edition with gorgeous color and fine black and white pictures 
 of Miss Mulock's Famous Child Classic telling the life story of the 
 Little Lame Prince who had friends in the magic world. Higher 
 priced editions will not be wanted upon the appearance of this ^popular 
 priced artistic volume. Cloth picture cover. Size, 9 1 / ix6 1 /&. 
 
 HEIDI 
 
 By Johanna Spyri. Featuring 33 pictures in color and in black and 
 white by Alice Carsey. 
 
 In this artfully written story by the celebrated Swiss authoress, the 
 heroine is a little orphan child named Heidi, who is taken up to live 
 on the high Alp-Mountains with a cross old hermit — her grand- 
 father. She becomes at once alive to the beauties of the mountains. 
 Her only youthful companion is Peter the goatherd, who lives half- 
 way down the mountain-side. Every day he takes his goats up on 
 the high slopes where they frolic about and graze on the rarest herbs. 
 Heidi knows no greater joy than to go along and roam among the 
 wild flowers, and watch the great eagle circle over the rocks. She 
 soon learns to love the grandfather's goats, Little Bear and Little 
 Swan, and flourishes on their milk. Heidi is the spirit of Good. She 
 brings the light of love into an old blind woman's life, she softens the 
 grandfather's heart, and teaches Peter to treat his goats kindly. The 
 world is the better for the telling of this tale, for it is one that not 
 only holds the reader but leaves a beautiful picture in the mind for 
 memory to dwell upon. The artist in illustrating this edition made 
 the pictures just as appealing as the story itself. Cloth picture cover. 
 Size, 9^4x6%. 
 
 For sale at Book Stores or sent postpaid on receipt of remittance 
 
New Books for Boys and Girls 
 
 POLLY AND SPARK 
 
 By ROSALIE G. MENDEL 
 
 With ten color and black and white page pictures 
 
 The many readers of "Spark" will welcome 
 with delight the second book of the series 
 called "Polly and Spark." Polly is a loving 
 chatty parrot who meets Spark when she 
 comes to live with the Morse family. In sim- 
 ple and amusing language Polly gives her lit- 
 tle readers an insight into the lives and habits 
 of many birds dear to the children. She 
 awakens a love for our feathered friends and 
 imparts lasting knowledge in a most refresh- 
 ing manner. 
 
 The author in her own original style, that 
 
 has won the hearts of all the boys and girls, 
 
 tells the story of "Polly and Spark" with a humor and charm that 
 
 will be loved by the little ones and appreciated by the grownups. 
 
 One hundred twenty-eight pages. Size, 9MXQV2. 
 
 SPARK ON THE FARM 
 
 By ROSALIE G. MENDEL 
 
 With illustrations in color and in black and white. 
 
 To the readers of Spark and of Polly and Spark no added word is 
 necessary as to the charm of this story and the telling of it. For they 
 have all the joy of meeting old and dear friends. And the book is a 
 story in itself, with many of the characters of the other two books in 
 it. The story, in an entertaining way, tells children all about life 
 on the farm. It puts interest in the scenes of farm life through both 
 pictures, descriptions and story suitable to the understanding and 
 observation of the child. One hundred twenty-eight pages. Size, 
 
 For sale at Book Stores or sent postpaid on receipt of remittance 
 
 ^HlTMAlNrTuBLISHINO CO# 
 
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