Chapter III

The queen sent all over the land to find out the queerest names.

The first day passed, and the second day passed, and she could not tell the brownie his name.

On the third day a man came to the queen and said, “Last night as I was walking through the woods, I saw a brownie dancing around a bonfire and singing,

“To-day I brew, to-morrow I bake,
Next day the queen’s child I shall take.
How glad I am that nobody knows
That my name is Rumpel-Stilts-Kin!”

This made the queen very happy. When the brownie came in she said,

“Is your name Tom?”

“No, my queen.”

“Is it John?”

“No, my queen.”

“Is it Robert?”

“No, my queen.”

“Can your name be Rumpel-Stilts-Kin?”

“An old fairy has told you! An old fairy has told you!” he cried. Then he ran away.

The queen laughed and said,

“Good morning to you, Mr. Rumpel-Stilts-Kin.”

JACOB AND WILLIAM GRIMM (_Adapted_).

OCTOBER.

Bright yellow, red, and orange,
The leaves come down in hosts;
The trees are Indian princes,
But soon they’ll turn to ghosts;
The leathery pears and apples
Hang russet on the bough;
It’s autumn, autumn, autumn late,
’Twill soon be winter now.

WILLIAM ALLINGHAM.
]

HIAWATHA’S CANOE.

Hiawatha, the young Indian chief, lived in the woods, by the Big Sea Water. He wanted to make a canoe.

He said to the Birch-tree, “Take off your white cloak, for the summer is coming, and you will not need it.”

The Birch-tree waved its branches in the wind and said, “Take my cloak, O Hiawatha!”

So Hiawatha cut the beautiful white bark from the tree.

Then he said to the Cedar, “Give me your branches, so my canoe will be strong.”

There was a cry from the top of the Cedar, but it said, “Take my branches, O Hiawatha!”

So Hiawatha cut them off and bent them, to make a frame for his canoe.

“Give me your roots, O Larch-tree,” Hiawatha said, “to hold the ends of my canoe together.”

The Larch-tree said sadly, “Take them all, O Hiawatha!”

Hiawatha pulled up the roots of the Larch-tree, and sewed the bark together. Then he said to the Fir-tree, “Give me your balm, so that the water may not come into my canoe.”

And the tall dark Fir-tree said, “Take my balm, O Hiawatha!”

So Hiawatha made his birch canoe. And it lay upon the water like a yellow leaf in autumn.

HENRY W. LONGFELLOW’S “Hiawatha.” (_Adapted_).

HIAWATHA’S SAILING.

“Give me of your bark, O Birch-Tree!
Of your yellow bark, O Birch-Tree!
Growing by the rushing river,
Tall and stately in the valley!
I a light canoe will build me,
That shall float upon the river
Like a yellow leaf in Autumn,
Like a yellow water-lily!”

HENRY WADSWORTH LONGFELLOW.

LADY GRAY.

One summer Robert and his father and mother lived in a little house in the woods.

They saw a squirrel running about in the trees.

Robert put some nuts on the ground and hid behind a tree. Soon the squirrel came and carried them away.

The next day he put the nuts nearer the house. The squirrel came again and carried them away.

So it went on for some time. Each day Robert put the nuts nearer the house.

They named the squirrel Lady Gray.

One day Robert’s mother sat down in a chair on the porch. She put some nuts on the floor and kept very still.

After a while Lady Gray came up on the porch. She looked at Robert’s mother, then she took a nut and ran away as fast as she could.

By and by Lady Gray became so gentle that she would hunt for nuts in their pockets.

One morning Father put a nut on his shoulder. Lady Gray jumped on Father’s shoulder and ate the nut. How they all laughed.