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MINNIE;
OR,
THE LITTLE WOMAN
A Fairy Story.
BY THE AUTHOR OF "VIOLET."
BOSTON:
PHILLIPS, SAMPSON AND COMPANY,
13 WINTER STREET.
1857.
Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1857, by
PHILLIPS, SAMPSON & CO.,
In the Clerk's Office of the District Court of the District of
Massachusetts.
STEREOTYPED BY
HOBART & ROBBINS,
New England Type and Stereotype Foundry,
BOSTON.
[Illustration: MINNIE AND THE SQUIRREL.]
HOW THE STORY CAME TO BE WRITTEN.
One evening, last summer, a little girl, with laughing eyes that no one
could resist, looked up into my face, and said,
"'Touldn't you wite me a story?"
"Yes. What shall it be about?" was the answer.
"O, wite something I could wead myself,--something with
pictures,--something like Tom Thumb, you know; and I shouldn't care if
it had pink covers, too, and wasn't larger than--this." And she held up
the palm of a rosy hand.
In a moment more she came bounding back to whisper, "I shouldn't care if
you left off the fingers, only make a _cunning_ story, and something I
can wead."
Instead of leaving off, I should have to add a great many of Minnie's
fingers, to cover the book, which would grow so large, and I couldn't
help it, any more than you can when a little bud opens out to a great
flower. So, I ask her forgiveness; hoping that she will find, inside of
the volume, something "cunning" enough to make her forget the covers.
And now, dear children, if you like my story, you must all thank Minnie
C----, to whom it is dedicated, with the heartiest good wishes of
THE AUTHOR.
CONTENTS.
PAGE
CHAPTER I.--RODOCANACHI, 9
" II.--DANDELION, 15
" III.--MINNIE'S HOME, 21
" IV.--MINNIE AND THE SQUIRREL, 26
" V.--A SQUIRREL-BACK RIDE, 31
" VI.--LIVING IN A TREE, 36
" VII.--MASTER SQUIRREL, 40
" VIII.--NIGHT, 45
" IX.--THE NEW HOME, 51
" X.--IN THE WOODS, 56
" XI.--THE SQUIRREL'S PARTY, 60
" XII.--BY THE RIVER, 63
" XIII.--YELLOW-BIRD, 70
" XIV.--IN A BIRD'S NEST, 75
" XV.--MINNIE AND THE BIRDS, 81
" XVI.--THE SQUIRREL'S TEAM, 87
" XVII.--THE MOONLIGHT DANCE, 92
" XVIII.--THE LITTLE NURSES, 96
" XIX.--MOUSE, 100
" XX.--HOUSEKEEPING, 104
" XXI.--TROUBLE FOR MINNIE, 108
" XXII.--TROUBLE STILL, 113
" XXIII.--FREE AT LAST, 118
" XXIV.--TURTLE, 123
" XXV.--MINNIE'S WINGS, 127
" XXVI.--HIDE-AND-SEEK, 130
" XXVII.--MINNIE IN PRISON, 135
" XXVIII.--NARROW ESCAPES, 140
" XXIX.--THE LITTLE SEAMSTRESS, 146
" XXX.--STORK, 151
" XXXI.--THE SEA-SHORE, 156
" XXXII.--STORM AND CALM, 161
MINNIE;
OR,
THE LITTLE WOMAN.
CHAPTER I.
RODOCANACHI.
Somewhere in Massachusetts is a little town as beautiful as a garden.
Nay, in summer-time I think this place is prettier than a garden; for it
is not laid out in long, stiff beds and paths; but the roads wind about
like rivers under its shady trees, and, wherever you see a bed of
flowers, a cosey little house is sure to rise up in its midst; and then
the hills,---- Did you ever read about the giant, who wouldn't give the
fairies any peace, but chopped them up for mince-meat, and did all
kinds of wicked things, till they resolved to kill him, if they could?
The fairy queen, who was very wise, knew that the giant's strength lay
in a great brass helmet which he wore; so she told her people to watch,
and, if ever he laid it aside, to steal this, and hide it away.
Now, one summer's day, the giant went hunting, and had such good success
that he came home with his arms full of game, tired and warm enough.
I don't remember the giant's name: perhaps it was Ugolino, or Loeschigk,
or Rodocanachi. We'll call it Rodocanachi. Down he threw his game,--the
deer and squirrels he had killed to eat; and the poor little robins, and
blue-birds, and humming-birds, he had only killed for the pleasure of
seeing them flutter down from the boughs where they were singing
sweetly--down to the ground, with their broken, bloody wings.
Rodocanachi threw his game aside, and then lay down himself to drink
from a pretty stream that ran bubbling and sparkling under the shady
trees. He was so thirsty, and had such a monstrous swallow, that,
before long, the stream stopped flowing, and, wherever the sun fell into
its bed, the pebbles began to grow white and dry. He had drank it almost
up, when the giant said to himself, "Bah! what a shallow river, and how
the pebbles get into my teeth! I must have a drop of wine to take away
the earthy taste."
There, under the shady trees, Rodocanachi drank and smoked, till his
head grew hotter than ever, and so confused, that he stretched himself
upon the grass; and, while trying to collect his thoughts, fell fast
asleep.
Then, how the fairies flew into sight! Down they swung, from all the
high oaks and elms, on rope-ladders made of spider-web; and, from under
the broad mulleins, up they poured in a swarm; from the other side of
the stream they fitted up rafts of pond-lily leaves, and came floating
across; for, after the giant turned away, the river had run full again.
What had seemed beds of fern-leaves came marching down from the
hill-side, or out from the deep shade,--they were fairy armies, with
banners all astir; and such a rustling as they made, and such a patter
of little feet, and flutter of tiny wings, and singing and shouting of
soft, glad voices, you never heard!
Last came the car of the fairy queen, a pearly pond-lily, lined and
fringed inside with gold, with a golden seat, and drawn by six
bright-blue dragon-flies, that sprinkled a light from their transparent
wings, as the car shed fragrance all along its way.
The queen arose and lifted her sceptre; which was tipped with a diamond
so bright it shone like a star, and could light a path at midnight
through the densest wood. She stretched this wand forth, and the noisy
multitude grew so still--so still that you could not hear a sound,
except the giant's breathing;--then she spoke:
"The time we have watched and waited for so long, so impatiently, has
come; the wicked Rodocanachi is in our power at last. Say, what shall we
do with him, my subjects?"
Then swelled forth a breeze of little voices, so confused that you could
not tell one from another; and the queen's wand rose again.
"We have not a moment to waste, be still, and hear the advice of my
general."
"If I have led your armies bravely, O, great queen--"
"Yes, yes," interrupted the queen, "but what shall I do with
Rodocanachi? I'll praise you, and receive your compliments afterwards."
"Suffer me, then, to go alone, and, with my spear, this tough
acacia-thorn, put out the giant's eyes."
The fairy shook her head, and turned to a statesman, the greatest in all
her kingdom:
"What say you?"
"Cut off his hands and feet, and make mince-meat of them, as he made of
my cousin's family!"
Again the queen shook her head, and turned to a grave judge, the wisest
man in Fairy-land:
"Let us go together, and, while he sleeps, roll this old sinner off from
the mountain-top, that his bones may be well broken when he reaches the
valley below!"
At this the little people all shouted for joy, and some ran towards
Rodocanachi, impatiently, to begin; but the fairy, with her sparkling
sceptre, called them back.
Puzzled and sorrowful, great queen as she was, she wrung her little
hands and wept. "I cannot bear to do such cruel deeds," she sighed; "and
yet how shall I banish this tyrant, and make my people happy? O, I wish
any one, who thinks it a pleasant thing to be a queen, could stand in my
place to-day!"