STORY-TELLING 



5570 



STORY-TELLING 



He felt quite glad at all the need and hard 

 times he had borne ; now he could joy in his good 

 luck, in all the brightness that was round him. 

 And the great swans swam round him and 

 stroked him with their beaks. 



Into the garden came little children, who threw 

 bread and corn into the water ; and the youngest 

 cried "There is a new one !" and the other chil-. 

 dren shouted, "Yes, a new one has come !" And 

 they clapped their hands and danced- about, and 

 ran to their father and mother ; and bread and 

 cake were thrown into the water ; and they all 

 said, "The new one is the most beautiful of all ! 

 so young and so handsome !" and the old swans 

 bowed their heads before him. 



Then he felt quite ashamed and hid his head 

 under his wings, for he did not know what to do ; 

 he was so happy, and yet not at all proud, for a 

 good heart is never proud. He thought how he 

 had been driven about and mocked and despised ; 

 and now he heard them all saying that he was the 

 most beautiful of all beautiful birds. And the 

 lilacs bent their branches straight down into the 

 water before him, and the sun shone warm and 

 mild. Then his wings rustled, he lifted his slen- 

 der neck and cried from the depths of his heart : 



"I never dreamed of so much happiness when 

 I was the Ugly Duckling." 



The Three Butterflies 



One morning there were three gay little butter- 

 flies, a red, a yellow and a white, playing in the 

 garden in the sunshine. They danced happily 

 from flower to flower and never grew tired at 

 all. Presently a cloud slipped in front of the 

 sun, and the garden grew gloomy, but still the 

 red butterfly and the yellow butterfly and the 

 white butterfly danced above the flowers. But 

 when the rain began to fall and to wet their 

 pretty, gauzy wings, they flew home. Alas ! the 

 door of their house was locked and they could not 

 find the key. 



Back to the garden they flew, and up to a tall, 

 white lily. "Beautiful lily," they said, "let us 

 creep into your flower so that the rain cannot 

 hurt us." "I will take the white butterfly in," 

 said the lily, "because she looks like me ; the 

 other ones I do not like." Then the white butter- 

 fly said, "If you will not shelter my sisters, I will 

 not come in either." And the three butterflies 

 flew away in the rain, dancing no longer, but look- 

 ing very sad and sorry. 



It rained harder and harder, and the three flew 

 to a gay red and yellow tulip. "Open your blos- 

 som, tulip," they cried, "and let us slip in out of 

 the rain." The tulip was haughty. "I will open 

 for the red and yellow," it replied, "for they wear 

 my colors ; the white one I do not like." Then the 

 red and yellow butterflies said, "If our sister may 

 not come in, neither will we ; it is better for us 

 to get wet together than to desert one another," 

 and they flew away. 



Now the sun, back of his cloud curtain, had 

 heard all that the butterflies said, and was 

 pleased because they were so unselfish and loved 

 one another. So he pushed his way through the 

 clouds, drove away the rain, and made the garden 

 sweet and bright again. The butterflies soon 

 dried their wings in the sunshine, and danced 

 happily above the flowers until night. 



Tikkl-Tlkkl-Rimbo 



A NONSENSE TALE FOR APRIL FOOL'S DAY 



A farmer and his wife had two little children, 

 and they were twins. The little girl was so bright 

 and happy that they named her Joy, but the boy 

 was a sulky, sullen fellow, and they named him 

 Tikki-tikki-rirnbo-rimbo-rimbo, tikki-tikki-rimbo- 

 rimbo-rimbo, allamentapantico bonasco Schutz. 



One day the children were playing out in the 

 yard and Joy fell into the well. Tikki-Tikki- 

 rimbo-rimbo-rimbo, tikki-tikki-rimbo-rimbo-rim- 

 bo, allamentapantico bonasco Schutz ran to his 

 father and cried: 



"Oh, father, Joy has fallen into the well !" 



"What?" asked the father, who was deaf. 



"Oh, father, Joy has fallen into the well !" 



Then the father cried to the hired man and 

 said: 



"Fetch the ladder ; Joy has fallen down the 

 well." 



And they ran as fast as they could, and put 

 the long ladder down the well, and the father 

 climbed down and brought up Joy, who was very 

 wet, but not hurt at all. 



The next day the children were playing out in 

 the yard again, and Tikki-tikki-rimbo-rimbo-rim- 

 bo, tikki-tikki-rimbo-rimbo-rimbo, allamentapan- 

 tico bonasco Schutz fell down the well. Joy ran 

 to her father, crying 



"Oh, father, Tikki-tikki-rimbo-rimbo-rimbo, 

 tikki-tikki-rimbo-rimbo-rimbo, allamentapantico 

 bonasco Schutz has fallen into the well !" 



"What did you say?" asked the father, who 

 was still deaf. 



"Oh, father," repeated Joy, "Tikki-tikki-rimbo- 

 rimbo-rimbo, tikki-tikki-rimbo-rimbo-rimbo, alla- 

 mentapantico bonasco Schutz has fallen into the 

 well !" 



Then the father called to the hired man and 

 said: 



"Fetch the ladder; Tikki-tikki-rimbo-rimbo- 

 rimbo, tikki-tikki-rimbo-rimbo-rimbo, allamenta- 

 pantico bonasco Schutz has fallen into the well !" 



And they ran as fast as they could, and put 

 the ladder down, but by the time they reached 

 him poor little Tikki-tikki-rimbo-rimbo-rimbo, 

 tikki-tikki-rimbo-rimbo-rimbo, allamentapantico 

 bonasco Schutz was dead. 



SUMMER STORIES 

 A Little Dutch Hero 



Holland is a little country, but the Dutch chil- 

 dren love it just as much as you love your great, 

 big country. There are many curious things to 

 be seen there the wooden shoes and the wind- 

 mills and the odd little caps and the far-reaching 

 gardens of tulips ; but the most curious of all are 

 the dikes which hold back the sea. For Holland 

 is lower than the ocean, and parts of it would be 

 flooded every time the tide rises were it not for 

 these great walls which the people have built. 



Little Hans knew what a dreadful thing it 

 would be if the sea ever pushed through these 

 walls ; and when he walked or played with his 

 little brother along the dikes he used to tell him 

 stories of how the sea tried and tried and tried 

 to get into Holland, because Holland was so beau- 

 tiful, and how the brave dikes kept it out. 



