30 FOREST FANCIES 



^'I will go." 



* * When I call, you must come ; for only while 

 the sweet water freely flows will you have eyes 

 and ears, to look and listen, and hands and 

 feet, to touch and run as children do. But 

 when the buds awake and the leaves unfold, I 

 will call no more." 



Then Old Nokomis and the night shadows 

 and the veil of snow were gone. The pale 

 flower of dawn bloomed in the sky, and all 

 was white and pure like the heart of a little 

 child. 



When Farmer Brier drove with his sledge to 

 the wood, he had a barrel for the sap from 

 the scattered maples on the hillside. **What a 

 good run of sap," thought he, emptying a pail 

 into the carrying-bucket; **I guess there's 

 enough to boil." 



He shoveled the snow from the two big back 

 logs, over which he hung a caldron and a ket- 

 tle, each balanced on the end of a long pole 

 set across a post. The heavy pole was 

 weighted with stones at the other end, to turn 

 the caldron on or off the fire. Then he tore 



