MAY-DAY
In glad springtime the birds all sing,
And sweet the woodland echoes ring;
Why should we not be happy too,
When skies are blue? when skies are blue?
I heard the Ink-Bottle Babies say,
“We’ll hang May baskets up to-day!”
“Oh! oh! oh!” cried the Ink-Bottle Babies. “It is May-Day! hurrah!
hurrah!”
Then they all got up and dressed in a hurry and said, “Oh Ma! may we go
to the woods? Oh Pa! may we all go to the woods together?”
Then Mamma and Papa said they might all go to the woods if they would be
very careful not to get lost.
The Ink-Bottle Babies each took a cute little basket, and they all went
to look for flowers and berries in the woods.
“I wonder if we will meet Red Riding-hood,” said Molly.
“I wonder if we will meet the wolf,” cried Polly.
At that very minute the Ink-Bottle Babies stood still for they heard a
voice cry,
“Out of my house and off my land!
How you came here I don’t understand!”
There stood a fierce little dwarf stamping his foot at them.
All the Ink-Bottle Babies bowed politely and said, “If you please, Sir,
may we gather a few violets and buttercups?”
Then the little dwarf said,
“I love all the little flowers that grow,
You shall not gather them, no! no!”
[Illustration: “_A fierce little dwarf stamping his feet_”]
Then Molly and Polly said, “If we each give you a cookie, would you let
us gather a few flowers?”
Then the little dwarf came and peeked into each one of the baskets and
saw, sure enough, that each Baby had a cookie in the basket.
Then the little dwarf clapped his hands and cried,
“Cookies big and cookies round,
Put them all upon the ground!”
Then the Ink-Bottle Babies all put their cookies on a large, flat stone,
and the little dwarf filled his pockets and his cap full of them.
Then he made a bow and said,
“Pick all the flowers you like to-day,
But after sundown do not stay!”
Then whisk, bound, the little dwarf was gone!
The Ink-Bottle Babies lost no time in picking flowers, you may be sure.
They found violets, daisies, and buttercups, and before they could
believe it, it was sundown.
They said, “We do not care what the little dwarf said, we will not hurry
home.”
Then they sat down and ate the sandwiches and apples they had brought
with them.
Just as the sun was setting Molly cried, “Oh, oh, oh,” and Polly cried,
“Oh, oh, oh,” and all the Ink-Bottle Babies cried, “Oh, oh, oh.” What do
you suppose was the matter? They all began to sink down, down, down, and
it became quite dark!
They sank down until they came to the top of the magic tower, which was
built under the sea!
They saw the fishes swim past them and they cried, “Oh, oh, oh, where are
we going?”
The roof of the magic tower opened and down the Ink-Bottle Babies went
to the very bottom of the tower. They were just beginning to get their
breath when the most beautiful princess in the world came and stood
before them.
She said,
“Where did you come from, Babies dear,
And how did you happen to come here?”
She saw only Molly at first; then Polly and all the rest of the Babies
came tumbling down the staircase.
The princess gathered up an armful of Babies and cried,
“I am so happy, the charm is broken;
I welcome the Babies now as a token.”
[Illustration: “_They had to work days and days to braid her hair_”]
The Babies patted the princess’ dress; it was soft and silky. Then they
all begged to braid her hair. They had to work days and days to braid all
her hair, it was so long and heavy.
“Tell us a story, please,” said the Babies.
And the princess began, “Once upon a time I went into the woods to gather
flowers!”
“Just like we did,” shouted all the Ink-Bottle Babies together.
“I was going along humming a little tune, when I saw a fierce little
dwarf,” continued the princess.
“Oh, oh, oh,” cried the Babies, “we met him, too! We met him, too!”
“The dwarf talked in rhyme,” said the princess. Then all the Babies
nodded their heads.
The princess said, “The dwarf would not let me have any flowers unless I
gave him a cookie, and when I did give him a cookie, he said,
“‘Pick all the flowers you like to-day,
But after sundown do not stay!’”
Then the Ink-Bottle Babies set up a shout, for those were the very words
the little dwarf had said to them.
The princess said, “I was so happy gathering flowers that I forgot what
the little dwarf said, and after sundown I began to sink, down and down,
until I came to this magic tower.”
The princess shook her head and said, “All the doors and windows are
fastened. Besides, we are under the sea.”
The Ink-Bottle Babies looked out of the window, and sure enough, fishes
were swimming past.
Suddenly the princess said, “Hush, the little dwarf is coming. Run
Babies, and hide, every one of you!”
Then the Ink-Bottle Babies ran upstairs.
Click, click, went the key in the door, and the door opened and the
little dwarf came in stamping and scolding.
He came into the room where the princess was, and said,
“Silver and gold have I none;
How many skeins have you spun?”
The princess went to her spinning wheel, and showed the dwarf that she
had spun two skeins of thread.
The little dwarf stamped his foot and cried,
“If out of the tower you want to go,
You will spin one hundred skeins you know!”
Then he looked very cunning indeed, and he opened the door to his
storeroom. “There are one thousand bundles of flax,” said he. “You must
spin all of this.”
Then he said,
“How soon do you really want to go,
In about a hundred years or so?”
The princess laughed gaily and said,
“At sundown if you care to call,
Perhaps you’ll find I’ve spun it all!”
The little dwarf was so surprised at this answer that he looked
cross-eyed, but he did not answer the princess.
Next he drew from his pocket a pitcher and a spoon. Then he went and got
a rocking-chair that he had brought with him, and he said,
“I’ll leave these treasures under the sea;
Some day they’ll be of use to me.”
Then whisk! bound! he was off and away and the princess began to sing
softly,
“Round and round the big wheel goes,
Spin, spin, spin;
Merrily the spring wind blows,
Spin, spin, spin.”
The Ink-Bottle Babies came in dancing and singing for they had heard
every word that had been said.
They cried, “We are so glad Ma taught us to spin.”
The Ink-Bottle Babies looked in the garret and they found twenty-five
little spinning wheels. They all sat down and began to spin as hard as
they could.
Suddenly Molly stopped spinning and Polly stopped spinning and then all
the Babies stopped spinning, and they ran to the place where the chair
and spoon and pitcher were.
They cried out, “Oh, the magic chair and spoon and pitcher!”
Then the magic chair said, “All jump in and have a ride.”
And the magic spoon said, “I will show you how to spin.”
Then the magic pitcher said, “I will give you a drink of cider.”
They all made merry, you may believe.
[Illustration: “_Found the princess sitting alone by her spinning wheel_”]
In a short time the magic spoon had all the flax spun into thread; then
they grew tired and sleepy and went to bed. The next day they had no work
to do as the spinning was all done, so they looked all over the tower and
peeped into every closet and corner.
At last it was sundown and the little dwarf came as before and found the
princess sitting alone by her spinning wheel.
He winked his eye and said,
“Did you spin all the flax I gave you yesterday?
Are you sure you’re quite ready to go away?”
Then the princess showed him all the thread, and the dwarf was so
surprised that he hardly knew what to say. He began to gather up the
thread to take away with him, and he said,
“You may laugh and shout, you can’t get out,
You have had help beyond a doubt!”
Then the magic spoon came in and beat him, and the magic pitcher stood in
front of him and poured water on him. Then the magic chair came up behind
him and he fell right into it. The chair rocked him out of the window
into the deep sea, and he never troubled the princess any more.
Then the chair came back and said, “Get in, every one of you, and I will
give you a ride.”
Then they all got in, the magic pitcher and spoon, too, and they rode
away, away, away, to the palace where the princess lived. They let the
princess out; and then they rode to the home of the Ink-Bottle Babies,
and let all the Babies out. The magic chair then rocked away, taking the
magic spoon and pitcher with it.