76 STORIES OF EARTH AND SKY 



"Then why don't you eat off the paper too, 

 missy? You are making crumbs," and Waddles 

 began to pick them up daintily with the tip of 

 his tongue. 



Anne laughed and hugged him so suddenly 

 that she tipped against the wood box, at which 

 a lump of coal lost its balance and rolled into 

 the kindling wood. 



" Keep your distance, Smutty Nose ! " 



" Smutty Nose, indeed ! How dare you call 

 me that ? " 



" Well," said the Kindling Wood to the Coal, 

 " who are you ? " 



" House People call me Coal, and sometimes 

 when the weather is very cold, King Coal." 



"They spell the real King Cole's name a dif- 

 ferent way," interrupted Anne. 



"They couldn't very well do that," replied 

 the black lump, "because / am the real King 

 Coal ; the other man was the usurper, so he didn't 

 dare spell his name correctly for fear of being ar- 

 rested for forgery." 



"How is it that an old hard dead thing like you 

 can burn as well as I, who was last summer one 

 of the tallest pines on Wild Cat Mountain ? " 



"I don't think that is half so strange," said 

 King Coal, brushing the dust from his face, " as 



