THE COMING OF SPRING 107 



creaked, and the sparrows hopped about in the ruts, 

 and shivered. "Piep! when will Spring come? 

 it is very long in coming!" 



" Very long," sounded from the snow-covered hill, 

 far over the field. It might be the echo which was 

 heard; or perhaps the words were spoken by yonder 

 wonderful old man, who sat in wind and weather 

 high on a heap of snow. 



"Who is that old man yonder?" asked the 

 sparrows. 



"I know who he is," quoth an old raven, who sat 

 on the fence-rail. "It is Winter, the old man of last 

 year. He is not dead, as the calendar says, but is 

 guardian to little Prince Spring, who is to come. 

 Yes, Winter bears sway here. Ugh! the cold makes 

 you shiver, does it not, you little ones?" 



" Yes. Did I not tell the truth ? " said the smallest 

 sparrow; "the calendar is only an invention of man, 

 and is not arranged according to Nature! They 

 ought to leave these things to us, who are born 

 cleverer than they." 



And one week passed away, and two passed away. 

 The sunbeam glided along over the lake, and made it 

 shine like burnished tin. The snowy covering on 

 the field and on the hill did not glitter as it had done; 

 but the white form, Winter himself, still sat there, 

 his gaze fixed unswervingly upon the south. He did 

 not notice that the snowy carpet seemed to sink as 

 it were into the earth, and that here and there a 



