she took them to the dining room and there they found a table which had
everything nice to eat upon it. And so the children ate and ate and ate,
for the magic table knew just what the person wished for who sat at
it. So you may be sure there were plenty of cookies and ice cream and
candies and golden doughnuts and everything.
So the two little orphan children lived all the time with Sally
Migrundy. And each morning when they tumbled, laughing and shouting, out
of their little snow white beds, they found underneath a new present. So
each morning they had a new toy to play with, for the magic beds knew
just what a child would like most each day.
Sally Migrundy was very, very glad the children had come to live with
her, so she wrote more notes and sent them down the singing stream, and
more and more children came until Sally Migrundy's house was very, very
large inside, but still the same tiny little cottage on the outside. The
singing and happy laughter of the children echoed through the whispering
forest all day, and the ground about the cottage was filled with toys
and playthings,--merry-go-rounds, sliding boards, sand piles, hundreds
of sand toys, and play houses filled with beautiful dolls and doll
furniture.
There was a roller coaster which knew just when to stop and start so
that none of the children could ever hurt themselves upon it, and a
little play grocery, a little play candy store, and a little play ice
cream parlor so that the children could go there at any time and get
cookies and candy and ice cream whenever they wished. You may be sure it
was a very happy place to live and the children made Sally Migrundy very
happy. At first the creatures who lived in the whispering forest were
surprised to hear the happy laughter and to see so many children playing
about, but they soon grew accustomed to the children and came right up
to the grocery and candy store and ice cream parlor to be fed.
Each year Sally Migrundy sends happy-hearted invitations floating down
the stream and more orphan children come to live with her. However Sally
Migrundy's tiny cottage is just the same tiny cottage on the outside.
But when once you crawl through the tiny door, you look upon rows and
rows of little rooms, each having one or more little snow white beds in
it.
[Illustration]
And, while Sally Migrundy remains a tiny little lady only two feet high,
she has as much happiness inside as if she were as large as a great big
mountain, for as you have probably also guessed, she is a fairy and can
have as much room inside for happiness as the little magic cottage could
have room inside for all the happy children.
One day the man who lived upon the hill where the spring bubbles up from
the ground and makes the beginning of the singing stream said to his
wife: "Mother, I will follow the stream and see where it leads to!" So
he started down the stream and walked and walked and walked until the
stream took him down through the whispering forest clear down to the
sea.
Then he turned around and walked back up the stream from the ocean--up
through the whispering forest until he came again to his home at the top
of the hill.
"I followed the stream down through a great whispering forest, mother,"
he said, "until I came to the sea. Then I turned around and came back
the same way. It was a beautiful trip and when I came to the center of
the great whispering forest there was a clearing at the side of the
tinkling, singing stream, and the lovely fish leaped from the crystal
waters and showed me their wonderful coloring, and the clearing was
filled with beautiful flowers and the music of birds. And it was so
beautiful I stopped and watched and listened.
"It seemed as if hundreds of children were playing around me, and
although I could not hear them yet it seemed to me that I felt they were
shouting and laughing at their play!"
"How wonderful it must have been!" said his wife.
"It was indeed very wonderful, mother. And when I returned I again
stopped at the same place and sat and listened to the singing of the
waters and the birds, and I saw the wild creatures come down into the
clearing and act as if they were being fed, and all the time I seemed
to feel the laughter and happy shouting of children at play. And a most
delightful feeling of contentment and happiness came over me as if I sat
within the borders of Fairyland!
"Then as I stooped to drink of the tinkling waters before I started on
my way home, I saw, tied to a flower growing in the water, the tiny
little bottle with the note inside which I had floated off a long time
ago, so I brought it home with me!"
And from his knapsack the man took the tiny bottle and placed it on the
table before his wife.
"I wish we knew just who tied the bottle to the flower!" said the wife
as she picked the bottle up to look at it. And because the bottle had
been used by Sally Migrundy, the two good people suddenly knew all about
Sally Migrundy, the magic little cottage, and the happy children who
lived there.
Every year the man takes his wife, and together they walk down the
tinkling stream until they came to the exact center of the great
whispering forest; there they sit for hours at a time, feeling the
happiness that overflows from the hearts of Sally Migrundy and the
children. And while the good couple have not been able to see the
children or Sally Migrundy, or even the tiny magic cottage, they know
they are all there, for at times they can hear the laughter and once
in a while they feel the touch of a tiny hand. And when they return to
their home upon the hill they find they have received enough happiness
at the clearing beside the tinkling, singing water to last them for a
whole year.
[Illustration]
[Illustration]
HOW JOHNNY CRICKET SAW SANTA CLAUS
When the first frost came and coated the leaves with its film of
sparkles, Mamma Cricket, Papa Cricket, Johnny Cricket and Grandpa
Cricket decided it was time they moved into their winter home.
Papa and Mamma and Grandpa Cricket carried all the heavy Cricket
furniture, while Johnny Cricket carried the lighter things, such as the
family portraits, looking glasses, knives and forks and spoons, and his
own little violin.
Aunt Katy Didd wheeled Johnny's little sister Teeny in the Cricket baby
buggy and helped Mamma Cricket lay the rugs and wash the stone-work,
for you see the Cricket winter home was in the chimney of a big
old-fashioned house and the walls were very dusty, and everything was
topsy-turvy.
But Mamma Cricket and Aunt Katy Didd soon had everything in tip-top
order, and the winter home was just as clean and neat as the summer home
out under the rose bush had been.
There the Cricket family lived happily and every thing was just as cozy
as any little bug would care to have; on cold nights the people who
owned the great big old fashioned house always made a fire in the
fireplace, so the walls of the Cricket's winter home were nice and
warm, and little Teeny Cricket could play on the floor in her bare feet
without fear of catching cold and getting the Cricket croup.
There was one crack in the walls of the Crickets' winter home which
opened right into the fireplace, so the light from the fire always lit
up the Crickets' living room. Papa Cricket could read the Bugville News
while Johnny Cricket fiddled all the latest popular Bug Songs and Mamma
Cricket rocked and sang to little Teeny Cricket.
One night, though, the people who owned the great big old fashioned
house did not have a fire in the fireplace, and little Teeny Cricket
was bundled up in warm covers and rocked to sleep, and all the Cricket
family went to bed in the dark.
Johnny Cricket had just dozed into dreamland when he was awakened by
something pounding ... ever so loudly ... and he slipped out of bed and
into his two little red topped boots and felt his way to the crack in
the living room wall.
Johnny heard loud voices and merry peals of laughter, so he crawled
through the crack and looked out into the fireplace.
There in front of the fireplace he saw four pink feet and two laughing
faces way above, while just a couple of Cricket-hops from Johnny's nose
was a great big man. Johnny could not see what the man was pounding, but
he made an awful loud noise.
Finally the pounding ceased and the man leaned over and kissed the
owners of the pink feet. Then there were a few more squeals of laughter,
and the four pink feet pitter-patted across the floor and Johnny could
see the owners hop into a snow-white bed.
Then Johnny saw the man walk to the lamp and turn the light down low,
and leave the great big room.
Johnny Cricket jumped out of the crack into the fireplace and ran out
into the great big room so that he might see what the man had pounded.
The light from the lamp was too dim for him to make out the objects
hanging from the mantel above the fireplace. All he could see were four
long black things, so Johnny Cricket climbed up the bricks at the side
of the fireplace until he came to the mantel shelf, then he ran along
the shelf and looked over. The black things were stockings.
Johnny began to wish that he had stopped to put on his stockings, for he
was in his bare feet. He had removed his little red topped boots when
he decided to climb up the side of the fireplace and now his feet were
cold.
So Johnny started to climb over the mantel shelf and down the side of
the fireplace when there came a puff of wind down the chimney which made
the stockings swing away out into the room, and snowflakes fluttered
clear across the room.
There was a tiny tinkle from a bell and, just as Johnny hopped behind
the clock, he saw a boot stick out of the fireplace.
Then Johnny Cricket's little bug heart went pitty-pat, and sounded as if
it would run a race with the ticking of the clock.
From his hiding place, Johnny Cricket heard one or two chuckles, and
something rattle. Johnny crept along the edge of the clock and holding
the two feelers over his back looked from his hiding place....
At first all he could see were two hands filling the stockings with
rattly things, but when the hands went down below the mantel for more
rattly things, Johnny Cricket saw a big round smiling face all fringed
with snow-white whiskers.
Johnny drew back into the shadow of the clock, and stayed there until
the rattling had ceased and all had grown quiet, then he slipped from
behind the clock and climbed down the side of the fireplace as fast as
he could. Johnny Cricket was too cold to stop and put on his little red
boots, but scrambled through the crack in the fireplace and hopped into
bed. In the morning Mamma Cricket had a hard time getting Johnny Cricket
out of bed. He yawned and stretched, put on one stocking, rubbed his
eyes, yawned, put on another stocking and yawned again. Johnny was still
very sleepy and could hardly keep his eyes open as he reached for his
little red-topped boots.
Johnny's toe struck something hard, he yawned, rubbed his eyes and
looked into the boot. Yes, there was something in Johnny Cricket's boot!
He picked up the other boot; it, too, had something in it!
It was candy! With a loud cry for such a little Cricket, Johnny rushed
to the kitchen and showed Mamma, then he told her of his adventure of
the night before.
Mamma Cricket called Papa and they both had a laugh when Johnny told how
startled he had been at the old man with the white whiskers who filled
the stockings in front of the fireplace. "Why, Johnny!" said Mamma and
Papa Cricket. "Don't you know? That was Santa Claus. We have watched him
every Christmas in the last four years fill the stockings, and he saw
your little red topped boots and filled them with candy, too. If you
will crawl through the crack into the fireplace you will see the
children of the people who own this big house playing with all the
presents that Santa Claus left them!"
And, sure enough, it was so!
[Illustration]
[Illustration]
THE TWIN SISTERS
Everybody in the little village called them the twin houses because they
were built exactly alike. But the two little cottages looked different
even if they were built alike, for one was covered with climbing vines
and beautiful scarlet roses while the other had no vines or flowers
about it at all.
Everybody called the two cottages the twin houses for another reason:
the owners were twins. One of the twins was Matilda and the other
Katrinka and they were as much alike on the outside as their two
cottages were alike; but as their two cottages differed, so did the two
twins differ.
Matilda could not be told from Katrinka should you just see them walking
down the street, but the minute either of them spoke you would know
which was Matilda and which was Katrinka. Matilda, who lived in the bare
cottage, was sour and disagreeable, while Katrinka was happy and cheery.
So the people in the little village called Matilda "Matilda Grouch" and
they called Katrinka "Katrinka Sunshine". All the children of the little
village loved Katrinka, for she always had a cooky or a dainty in her
apron pocket to give them, or she would pat them on their curly heads
and smile cheerily at them through her glasses. And all the children
avoided Matilda, for, sometimes mistaking her for Katrinka and running
close to greet her, they would have their noses tweeked for their
trouble.
Matilda's life was lonely and cold; no one went to see her. She was
always unhappy.
[Illustration]
Katrinka's house always echoed with the laughter of children;
everyone went to see her. She was always joyful and cheery.
One night while Matilda sat at her dark window looking across at
Katrinka's house, she saw a crowd of people tip-toeing up to the stoop
with baskets under their arms and flowers in their hands and when all
had crowded upon the porch they stamped their feet and made a great
noise.
Matilda was very angry, but Katrinka ran laughing to the door and
greeted all with her kindliest smile. It was a surprise party for
Katrinka, for it was her birthday.
Matilda watched the party from her dark window and the longer she
watched, the more angry she grew, for the longer the party lasted, the
louder grew the happy laughter.
Finally when all the guests had gone, Matilda saw Katrinka gather up
half of the presents and put them in a basket.
Then Katrinka stole softly up to Matilda's stoop and stamped her feet.
Matilda sat scowling by the dark window a long time before she finally
went to the door, for she was very peevish.
"This is a fine time to come stamping upon a person's stoop!" she
scolded, as Katrinka walked into the living room.
"Oh, sister," Katrinka cried, as she tried to kiss Matilda. "This is our
birthday and I have brought you half of the presents which were given
me! See?" and she piled the presents high upon the table.
"I do not wish them!" said Matilda, frowning at her sister. But Katrinka
could see that Matilda _did_ wish them.
"The presents were not for me, Katrinka!" she said.
"Oh yes they are!" Katrinka replied. "They were given to me and I give
them to you! I have saved one half for myself! But you should have been
to the party!" said Katrinka, "We had such a happy time!"
"I do not enjoy being with people!" Matilda scolded, "I wish to be left
to myself!"
"Yes, but Matilda," her sister said, "you do not know the happiness in
being kind and friendly to others!"
[Illustration]
"Pooh!" sniffed Matilda.
"I just wish you could take my place and know the happiness that is in
my heart tonight," Katrinka smiled.
"I just wish you could take my place and know the unhappiness that is in
my heart tonight!" said Matilda, "You would see that a lot of children
screeching about the house with all their presents could not bring me
happiness!"
Katrinka thought a moment, "I have it, Matilda! We will change places!
You must live in my house and pretend that you are me, and I will live
in your house and pretend that I am you! And you must smile and be
friendly just as I would do."
After a great deal of coaxing, Matilda finally agreed that she would
change places with Katrinka and try to smile when anyone came to see
her.
"But only for three days!" she said.
So Matilda went over to Katrinka's cottage and went to bed and Katrinka
stayed in Matilda's cottage, but she did not go to bed.
Instead she went all over the house and tidied everything up and placed
pretty white curtains at the windows. In the morning neighbors came to
Katrinka's house, and Matilda, taking Katrinka's place met them with
a smile, and soon in spite of herself she was laughing and enjoying
herself.
And when they left, Matilda felt that she enjoyed having them there.
But what was the callers' surprise when they passed Matilda's cottage
to see someone planting flowers around the stoop. They stopped in
wonderment and, as Katrinka looked up at them with a cheery "Good
Morning!" and a happy smile they could scarce believe their eyes and
ears, for they thought it was Matilda.
And these callers told other neighbors and they called at Katrinka's
house and visited with Matilda and Matilda was so pleased she laughed
as cheerily as Katrinka could laugh. And as the neighbors left they saw
Katrinka in Matilda's front yard planting flowers and stopped in open
mouthed wonder to gaze at her, for _they_ thought she was Matilda.
And when Katrinka smiled at them and said her cheery "Good morning"
_they_ could scarcely believe their eyes and ears.
The neighbors all put their heads together, and that evening they filled
their baskets with goodies and presents and, with large bouquets of
flowers, they tiptoed up to Matilda's front stoop and stamped their
feet.
Now Katrinka had called Matilda over to her own house to see the changes
she had made and Matilda was beginning to see what she had missed all
along. And as they were talking, there came a noise at the front stoop.
"Shall I go to the door, Matilda?" asked Katrinka.
"No, I will go, Katrinka!" Matilda replied, her face alight with
happiness. So Matilda welcomed her guests as cheerily as Katrinka had
done the evening before and the laughter lasted until 'way in the night.
And when the last guest had left, Matilda took Katrinka in her arms and
said, "I will not need to change places with you again, Katrinka, for I
have found that there is far more pleasure in being happy than in being
unhappy!" "Of course there is, Matilda!" Katrinka replied. "You see, in
order to be happy ourselves we must reflect happiness to others, and the
more cheer we give to others the more joy we receive ourselves, so we
must continue to change from one house to another every other day so
that no one will know which of us is Matilda and which is Katrinka and
we will share our happiness with each other."
So Matilda's house was soon surrounded with beautiful flowers and her
house echoed with the fun and laughter of happy children.
And the two sisters who looked alike now acted alike and could not be
told apart, and they changed about so often people never knew whether
they were visiting Katrinka or whether they were visiting Matilda, for
one was as cheery as the other and was as happy in the love of all the
people in the little village.
And, as they could not be told apart, everyone called Matilda or
Katrinka the Cheery Twins whenever they spoke of either.
[Illustration]
[Illustration]
LITTLE THUMBKIN'S GOOD DEED
Thumbkins lived in a tiny, cozy little house right down beneath a
mushroom. The tiny, little house was made of cobwebs which Thumbkins had
gathered from the bushes and weeds. These he had woven together with
thistle-down, making the nicest little nest imaginable.
One day Thumbkins was passing through the meadow and it began to rain.
"Dear me! I shall get soaking wet!" Thumbkins cried as he hurried along.
A mamma meadow-lark, sitting upon her nest, saw Thumbkins running and
called to him: "Come here, little man, and get beneath my wing and I
will keep you warm and dry!"
So Thumbkins crawled beneath Mamma Meadow-Lark's wings and, snuggling
down close to the bottom of the meadow-lark's nest, he found three tiny
little baby meadow-larks. It was too dark for Thumbkins to see them, but
he felt that the baby Meadow-Larks were as warm as toast.
Thumbkins kept very quiet, for the baby meadow-larks were sleepy little
fellows, and before he knew it Thumbkins was sound asleep himself, with
an arm around one of the baby birds.
[Illustration]
Thumbkins did not know how long he had been asleep, but when he awakened
the rain had ceased. Thumbkins knew it had stopped raining for he could
no longer hear the rain drops pattering upon Mamma Meadow-Lark's back.
So now he climbed out of the nest and looked about.
The ground about the Meadow-Lark's nest was covered with tiny puddles,
and Mamma Meadow-Lark was soaking wet. She looked very uncomfortable.
Her feathers stuck out in all directions and a drop of water fell from
her head and rolled down her beak.
Thumbkins thought at first Mamma Meadow-Lark was crying, and he said:
"Are you cold, Mamma Meadow-Lark?"
"Yes, indeed!" Mamma Meadow-Lark replied as she shook her ruffled
feathers, sending the water flying in all directions.
"But, you see," she continued, "if I did not cover my baby Meadow-Lark
chicks they would get very, very cold, for they have little bald heads
with not a single feather upon them to protect them! So, while I get
wet, it does not matter so much, for I know I have kept my little
Meadow-Lark chicks dry and warm and cozy and that, of course, makes me
very happy! And I had the pleasure of keeping you warm and dry, too!"
Mamma Meadow-Lark added.
"Perhaps Mamma Meadow-Lark is very happy inside!" Thumbkins thought to
himself as he stood and looked at her. "But she does not look very happy
with such wet feathers."
"I thank you ever and ever so much, Mamma Meadow-Lark!" Thumbkins said.
"You are indeed very welcome," Mamma Meadow-Lark replied, "and any time
it rains you can come back to my nest and crawl beneath my wing and keep
warm and dry. For you are tiny and do not take up much room!"
Thumbkins thanked Mamma Meadow-Lark again, and told her of his nice
warm cozy little nest beneath the mushroom. "It is always nice and dry
there," he said, "for the rain runs right off the mushroom and does not
touch my little cobweb home!"
That night as he lay in his little thistle-down bed, Thumbkins heard it
thundering. "I'm very glad that I haven't a home built right out upon
the bare ground like the meadow-larks!" he said. And as the thunder grew
louder, Thumbkins turned over and tried to go to sleep.
Presently the raindrops began to patter on the round top of the mushroom
and "drip-dropped" to the ground without getting Thumbkins' little house
the least bit wet. Usually when it rained, the patter of the raindrops
upon his mushroom roof lulled Thumbkins right to sleep, but tonight
Thumbkins lay wide awake and thought and thought.
"I can't go to sleep!" Thumbkins said, so he hopped out of his warm
little bed and lit his tiny lantern. Then, though it was raining ever so
hard, he pulled his little hat well down on his head and ran out into
the storm.
Yes! There was Mamma Meadow-Lark sitting upon her nest with her head
tucked under her wing, sound asleep. But when he held his tiny lantern
close, Thumbkins could see that she shivered as the cold raindrops
splashed upon her back.
So Thumbkins ran to the woods where he knew the mushrooms grew, and
breaking off the largest one he could find he carried it to where Mamma
Meadow-Lark sat sleeping upon her nest, and planted it so the raindrops
rolled off the round roof and did not touch her at all.
Then, shivering himself, for he was soaking wet, he ran home as fast as
he could, took off his dripping clothes, put on his little pajamas, and
climbed into his warm little cozy cobweb bed.
Now of course Thumbkins was happy because he had helped another, and
when a person is happy there is nothing to worry about, and when there
is nothing to worry about, of course there is nothing to keep one awake.
So Thumbkins fell fast asleep and dreamed the most pleasant dreams.
And they were such happy dreams Thumbkins slept until almost half-past
eight the next morning.
[Illustration]
[Illustration]
THE WISHBONE
The stove lifter lay upon his iron side and looked across the top of the
shelf which stood above the stove. "Who is he?" he asked of the box of
matches lying near him.
The box of matches looked at the strange new object standing upon two
thin white legs and leaning against the wall near the coffee pot.
"I do not know!" the match box answered.