"It was indeed very wonderful, mother. And when I returned I againstopped at the same place and sat and listened to the singing of thewaters and the birds, and I saw the wild creatures come down into theclearing and act as if they were being fed, and all the time I seemedto feel the laughter and happy shouting of children at play. And a mostdelightful feeling of contentment and happiness came over me as if I satwithin the borders of Fairyland!
"Then as I stooped to drink of the tinkling waters before I started onmy way home, I saw, tied to a flower growing in the water, the tinylittle bottle with the note inside which I had floated off a long timeago, so I brought it home with me!"
And from his knapsack the man took the tiny bottle and placed it on thetable before his wife.
"I wish we knew just who tied the bottle to the flower!" said the wifeas she picked the bottle up to look at it. And because the bottle hadbeen used by Sally Migrundy, the two good people suddenly knew all aboutSally Migrundy, the magic little cottage, and the happy children wholived there.
Every year the man takes his wife, and together they walk down thetinkling stream until they came to the exact center of the greatwhispering forest; there they sit for hours at a time, feeling thehappiness that overflows from the hearts of Sally Migrundy and thechildren. And while the good couple have not been able to see thechildren or Sally Migrundy, or even the tiny magic cottage, they knowthey are all there, for at times they can hear the laughter and oncein a while they feel the touch of a tiny hand. And when they return totheir home upon the hill they find they have received enough happinessat the clearing beside the tinkling, singing water to last them for awhole year.
HOW JOHNNY CRICKET SAW SANTA CLAUS
When the first frost came and coated the leaves with its film ofsparkles, Mamma Cricket, Papa Cricket, Johnny Cricket and GrandpaCricket decided it was time they moved into their winter home.
Papa and Mamma and Grandpa Cricket carried all the heavy Cricketfurniture, while Johnny Cricket carried the lighter things, such as thefamily portraits, looking glasses, knives and forks and spoons, and hisown little violin.
Aunt Katy Didd wheeled Johnny's little sister Teeny in the Cricket babybuggy 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 bigold-fashioned house and the walls were very dusty, and everything wastopsy-turvy.
But Mamma Cricket and Aunt Katy Didd soon had everything in tip-toporder, and the winter home was just as clean and neat as the summer homeout under the rose bush had been.
There the Cricket family lived happily and every thing was just as cozyas any little bug would care to have; on cold nights the people whoowned the great big old fashioned house always made a fire in thefireplace, so the walls of the Cricket's winter home were nice andwarm, and little Teeny Cricket could play on the floor in her bare feetwithout fear of catching cold and getting the Cricket croup.
There was one crack in the walls of the Crickets' winter home whichopened right into the fireplace, so the light from the fire always litup the Crickets' living room. Papa Cricket could read the Bugville Newswhile Johnny Cricket fiddled all the latest popular Bug Songs and MammaCricket rocked and sang to little Teeny Cricket.
One night, though, the people who owned the great big old fashionedhouse did not have a fire in the fireplace, and little Teeny Cricketwas bundled up in warm covers and rocked to sleep, and all the Cricketfamily went to bed in the dark.
Johnny Cricket had just dozed into dreamland when he was awakened bysomething pounding ... ever so loudly ... and he slipped out of bed andinto his two little red topped boots and felt his way to the crack inthe living room wall.
Johnny heard loud voices and merry peals of laughter, so he crawledthrough the crack and looked out into the fireplace.
There in front of the fireplace he saw four pink feet and two laughingfaces way above, while just a couple of Cricket-hops from Johnny's nosewas a great big man. Johnny could not see what the man was pounding, buthe made an awful loud noise.
Finally the pounding ceased and the man leaned over and kissed theowners 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 couldsee 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 outinto 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 objectshanging from the mantel above the fireplace. All he could see were fourlong black things, so Johnny Cricket climbed up the bricks at the sideof the fireplace until he came to the mantel shelf, then he ran alongthe shelf and looked over. The black things were stockings.
Johnny began to wish that he had stopped to put on his stockings, for hewas in his bare feet. He had removed his little red topped boots whenhe decided to climb up the side of the fireplace and now his feet werecold.
So Johnny started to climb over the mantel shelf and down the side ofthe fireplace when there came a puff of wind down the chimney which madethe stockings swing away out into the room, and snowflakes flutteredclear across the room.
There was a tiny tinkle from a bell and, just as Johnny hopped behindthe clock, he saw a boot stick out of the fireplace.
Then Johnny Cricket's little bug heart went pitty-pat, and sounded as ifit would run a race with the ticking of the clock.
From his hiding place, Johnny Cricket heard one or two chuckles, andsomething rattle. Johnny crept along the edge of the clock and holdingthe two feelers over his back looked from his hiding place....
At first all he could see were two hands filling the stockings withrattly things, but when the hands went down below the mantel for morerattly things, Johnny Cricket saw a big round smiling face all fringedwith snow-white whiskers.
Johnny drew back into the shadow of the clock, and stayed there untilthe rattling had ceased and all had grown quiet, then he slipped frombehind the clock and climbed down the side of the fireplace as fast ashe could. Johnny Cricket was too cold to stop and put on his little redboots, but scrambled through the crack in the fireplace and hopped intobed. In the morning Mamma Cricket had a hard time getting Johnny Cricketout of bed. He yawned and stretched, put on one stocking, rubbed hiseyes, yawned, put on another stocking and yawned again. Johnny was stillvery sleepy and could hardly keep his eyes open as he reached for hislittle red-topped boots.
Johnny's toe struck something hard, he yawned, rubbed his eyes andlooked 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 rushedto the kitchen and showed Mamma, then he told her of his adventure ofthe night before.
Mamma Cricket called Papa and they both had a laugh when Johnny told howstartled he had been at the old man with the white whiskers who filledthe stockings in front of the fireplace. "Why, Johnny!" said Mamma andPapa Cricket. "Don't you know? That was Santa Claus. We have watched himevery Christmas in the last four years fill the stockings, and he sawyour little red topped boots and filled them with candy, too. If youwill crawl through the crack into the fireplace you will see thechildren of the people who own this big house playing with all thepresents that Santa Claus left them!"
And, sure enough, it was so!
THE TWIN SISTERS
Everybody in the little village called them the twin houses because theywere built exactly alike. But the two little cottages looked differenteven if they were built alike, for one was covered with climbing vinesand beautiful scarlet roses while the other had no vines or flowersabout 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 otherKatrinka and they were as much alike on the outside as their twocottages were alike; but as their two cottages diffe
red, so did the twotwins differ.
Matilda could not be told from Katrinka should you just see them walkingdown the street, but the minute either of them spoke you would knowwhich was Matilda and which was Katrinka. Matilda, who lived in the barecottage, was sour and disagreeable, while Katrinka was happy and cheery.
So the people in the little village called Matilda "Matilda Grouch" andthey called Katrinka "Katrinka Sunshine". All the children of the littlevillage loved Katrinka, for she always had a cooky or a dainty in herapron pocket to give them, or she would pat them on their curly headsand smile cheerily at them through her glasses. And all the childrenavoided Matilda, for, sometimes mistaking her for Katrinka and runningclose to greet her, they would have their noses tweeked for theirtrouble.
Matilda's life was lonely and cold; no one went to see her. She wasalways unhappy.
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 atKatrinka's house, she saw a crowd of people tip-toeing up to the stoopwith baskets under their arms and flowers in their hands and when allhad crowded upon the porch they stamped their feet and made a greatnoise.
Matilda was very angry, but Katrinka ran laughing to the door andgreeted all with her kindliest smile. It was a surprise party forKatrinka, for it was her birthday.
Matilda watched the party from her dark window and the longer shewatched, the more angry she grew, for the longer the party lasted, thelouder grew the happy laughter.
Finally when all the guests had gone, Matilda saw Katrinka gather uphalf 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 finallywent to the door, for she was very peevish.
"This is a fine time to come stamping upon a person's stoop!" shescolded, as Katrinka walked into the living room.
"Oh, sister," Katrinka cried, as she tried to kiss Matilda. "This is ourbirthday and I have brought you half of the presents which were givenme! See?" and she piled the presents high upon the table.
"I do not wish them!" said Matilda, frowning at her sister. But Katrinkacould 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 givethem to you! I have saved one half for myself! But you should have beento the party!" said Katrinka, "We had such a happy time!"
"I do not enjoy being with people!" Matilda scolded, "I wish to be leftto myself!"
"Yes, but Matilda," her sister said, "you do not know the happiness inbeing kind and friendly to others!"
"Pooh!" sniffed Matilda.
"I just wish you could take my place and know the happiness that is inmy heart tonight," Katrinka smiled.
"I just wish you could take my place and know the unhappiness that is inmy heart tonight!" said Matilda, "You would see that a lot of childrenscreeching about the house with all their presents could not bring mehappiness!"
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 livein your house and pretend that I am you! And you must smile and befriendly just as I would do."
After a great deal of coaxing, Matilda finally agreed that she wouldchange places with Katrinka and try to smile when anyone came to seeher.
"But only for three days!" she said.
So Matilda went over to Katrinka's cottage and went to bed and Katrinkastayed in Matilda's cottage, but she did not go to bed.
Instead she went all over the house and tidied everything up and placedpretty white curtains at the windows. In the morning neighbors came toKatrinka's house, and Matilda, taking Katrinka's place met them witha smile, and soon in spite of herself she was laughing and enjoyingherself.
And when they left, Matilda felt that she enjoyed having them there.
But what was the callers' surprise when they passed Matilda's cottageto see someone planting flowers around the stoop. They stopped inwonderment and, as Katrinka looked up at them with a cheery "GoodMorning!" and a happy smile they could scarce believe their eyes andears, for they thought it was Matilda.
And these callers told other neighbors and they called at Katrinka'shouse and visited with Matilda and Matilda was so pleased she laughedas cheerily as Katrinka could laugh. And as the neighbors left they sawKatrinka in Matilda's front yard planting flowers and stopped in openmouthed 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 filledtheir baskets with goodies and presents and, with large bouquets offlowers, they tiptoed up to Matilda's front stoop and stamped theirfeet.
Now Katrinka had called Matilda over to her own house to see the changesshe had made and Matilda was beginning to see what she had missed allalong. 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 withhappiness. So Matilda welcomed her guests as cheerily as Katrinka haddone 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 andsaid, "I will not need to change places with you again, Katrinka, for Ihave found that there is far more pleasure in being happy than in beingunhappy!" "Of course there is, Matilda!" Katrinka replied. "You see, inorder to be happy ourselves we must reflect happiness to others, and themore cheer we give to others the more joy we receive ourselves, so wemust continue to change from one house to another every other day sothat no one will know which of us is Matilda and which is Katrinka andwe will share our happiness with each other."
So Matilda's house was soon surrounded with beautiful flowers and herhouse echoed with the fun and laughter of happy children.
And the two sisters who looked alike now acted alike and could not betold apart, and they changed about so often people never knew whetherthey were visiting Katrinka or whether they were visiting Matilda, forone was as cheery as the other and was as happy in the love of all thepeople in the little village.
And, as they could not be told apart, everyone called Matilda orKatrinka the Cheery Twins whenever they spoke of either.
LITTLE THUMBKIN'S GOOD DEED
Thumbkins lived in a tiny, cozy little house right down beneath amushroom. The tiny, little house was made of cobwebs which Thumbkins hadgathered from the bushes and weeds. These he had woven together withthistle-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 andcalled to him: "Come here, little man, and get beneath my wing and Iwill keep you warm and dry!"
So Thumbkins crawled beneath Mamma Meadow-Lark's wings and, snugglingdown close to the bottom of the meadow-lark's nest, he found three tinylittle baby meadow-larks. It was too dark for Thumbkins to see them, buthe felt that the baby Meadow-Larks were as warm as toast.
Thumbkins kept very quiet, for the baby meadow-larks were sleepy littlefellows, and before he knew it Thumbkins was sound asleep himself, withan arm around one of the baby birds.
Thumbkins did not know how long he had been asleep, but when he awakenedthe rain had ceased. Thumbkins knew it had stopped raining for he couldno 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 fromher 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 ruffledfeathers, sending the water flying in all directions.
"But, you see," she continued, "if I did not cover my baby Meadow-Larkchicks they would get very, very cold, for they have little bald headswith not a single feather upon them to protect them! So, while I getwet, it does not matter so much, for I know I have kept my littleMeadow-Lark chicks dry and warm and cozy and that, of course, makes mevery 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 tohimself as he stood and looked at her. "But she does not look very happywith 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 timeit rains you can come back to my nest and crawl beneath my wing and keepwarm and dry. For you are tiny and do not take up much room!"
Thumbkins thanked Mamma Meadow-Lark again, and told her of his nicewarm cozy little nest beneath the mushroom. "It is always nice and drythere," he said, "for the rain runs right off the mushroom and does nottouch my little cobweb home!"