Chapter III

Then the fairy said, “You shall have your ax.”
She went down into the water again.
Soon she came up with a steel ax.

“Oh, thank you!” said the happy woodman. “That is my ax.
Now I can work.”
“Yes,” said the fairy, “this is your ax, but it is a steel ax.
Did you not like the gold ax and the silver ax?”
“This is my ax,” said the woodman.
“The gold ax was not mine, and the silver ax was not mine.”
“You are an honest woodman,” said the fairy.
“You would take only what is yours.
So I will give you the gold ax
and the silver ax.”
The woodman carried home the gold ax, the silver ax and the steel ax.
He was very, very happy.

AN OLD RHYME.

If all the seas were one sea,
What a great sea that would be!
If all the trees were one tree,
What a great tree that would be!
If all the axes were one ax,
What a great ax that would be!
If all the men were one man,
What a great man that would be!
And if the great man took the great ax,
And cut down the great tree,
And let it fall into the great sea,
What a great splash that would be!

AT THE SEASIDE.

When I was down beside the sea
A wooden spade they gave to me
To dig the sandy shore.
My holes were empty like a cup,
In every hole the sea came up,
Till it could come no more.
ROBERT LOUIS STEVENSON

LITTLE RED RIDING HOOD.

Once upon a time there was a pretty little girl.
Her grandmother made her a pretty red hood.
Then everyone called her Little Red Riding Hood.
One day her mother made some butter and a cake.
She put these into a basket and said, “Your grandmother
is sick, Little Red Riding Hood.
Will you take this cake and butter to her?”
“Oh, yes, Mother!” said Little Red Riding Hood.
“I know the way to Grandmother’s house.”
She put on her red hood and kissed her mother.
“Good-by, Little Red Riding Hood,” said her mother.
“Be a good girl and do not go out of the path.”