ill. He could only lie still and think of the dark tower and the

unlighted lantern. Outside a storm was raging. He thought of the sailors on the wild waters fighting against the furious storm, but he could not give them the light that they needed so much.

Little Jane saw her grandfather’s distress. She, too, had learned to love the men of the sea, and knew that the brave sailors would be lost if the light was not there. She went to the foot of the stairs and looked up the dark passageway. She could hear the wind howling and the rain beating against the tower. Terror was in her little heart. Could she go up alone? Could she light the great lantern without her grandfather’s help? Then she caught a vision of the helpless ones outside.

Up and up she climbed. It was cold and dark, yet she went on. Finally the top was reached, but how was she to lift the great wick? She pushed hard, and something seemed to give her strength. Slowly the wick swung back. Quickly she touched the match, then the great light shone forth over the sea giving help to the souls who would have otherwise perished in the waves.

When she came down and told her grandfather she had lighted the lamp, he patted her on the head and said: “You are a brave girl, and have perhaps saved many lives this night.”

THE WIND AND THE SUN

_In which the silent forces of nature show themselves to be more powerful than the noisy ones._

The Wind and the Sun quarreled one day as to which of the two was the stronger. Each contended that he was mightier than the other, and stood ready to prove it in any way. They got so angry that people thought a storm was coming on and ran inside their houses. The Sun said:

“I am able to bring the summer, to ripen the grain and the fruit, and cover the earth with flowers. I can melt icebergs and clear whole fields of snow. I can drive away darkness and night and make day to come.”

“And I,” said the Wind, “can break down trees and move ships across the ocean, and bring the cold winter. I make icebergs when I am cold. I turn wind-mills, and move clouds across the sky. I can be a breeze or a hurricane. I can raise great clouds of dust so that people will hide from me.”

So they ended where they had begun; each thinking that he had the greater power. Quarrels never do go very far in settling anything. The wind still boasted of what he could do, and the sun still insisted he was the stronger.

Just then they saw a traveler coming and they agreed whichever should make the traveler take off his coat should be counted the stronger.

The Wind was the first to try, so the Sun went behind the clouds. The Wind blew with all his might; he blew so strong that he almost blew the traveler away. He blew ice into the traveler’s face, and snow down his back. But the harder the Wind blew and the more noise he made the more closely the traveler wrapped his coat about him. At last the Wind gave up in despair, for the traveler had buttoned his coat firmly and strapped it around his waist.

Then the Sun came and sent his warmest rays right down upon the traveler’s head. It grew hotter and hotter. There was no noise and no storm, just sunshine. The traveler threw open his coat, turned it back, and at last took it off altogether. He said:

“I am glad that the blustering wind has gone and the sunshine has come. It is so hot I must take off my coat.” And so it was that the Sun who had made so little noise in the world, yet proved himself to be very powerful.

MOTHER EARTH’S CHILDREN

_In which is shown the power of gentleness and mercy over physical strength._

Long, long ago the Snow King looked down from his home on a great mountain in the North, and said:

“I shall show my power and strength by covering all the earth with a great mantle of snow; I shall lock in ice every stream and river; when I blow my breath the poor shall shiver in their homes, the leaves shall fall from the trees, the birds hide for fear of me, and all the little animals in the forest shall hide in the ground, and all shall say: ‘Oh, how strong, how terrible is the great Snow King!’”

Mother Earth heard the boasting of her son and was sorry, for she knew what suffering he could bring upon her children, so she said:

“Snow King, I pray you remember the poor, and be not cruel to my children of the woods and trees.”

The Snow King laughed aloud and shook his hoary head. Every tree and housetop was soon covered with the soft snow flakes that fell from his hair and beard. He waved his arms until he had stilled the music of all the brooklets and they were frozen hard and fast. Then he blew his icy breath and the old women shivered with cold. The little leaves fell from the trees; the birds sought shelter in the swamps, and the rabbits and squirrels dug deep holes in the ground.

“This is a terrible winter,” said every one. “How awful is this cold!”

However, a gentle daughter of Mother Earth named Spring, had overheard the proud words of the Snow King and seen the suffering he had caused. She said to herself:

“I, too, have power, and I shall use it to undo the work of my brother, the Snow King.”

So after a while the maiden clothed herself in soft garments, and on her feet she put sandals of flowers, and as she walked sweet perfumes were wafted about her. She breathed upon the air and the snow melted away, the streams resumed their laughter, the trees put forth their leaves, the birds came again to nest in the branches, and the little animals came out of their burrows and began to play about the forest.

“This is beautiful weather,” said every one. “I am glad spring has come, and the awful winter has passed.” And the whole earth smiled because it felt so happy and full of promise.

Then the spring maiden turned to the Snow King and said:

“You see, O King, that I, too, am mighty on the earth--that I have strength equal to yours and can undo all that you have done. My power is even greater than yours, for mine is the power of love.”

SEEDS OF GOLD

_Real wealth comes from the soil._

Many years ago there lived a little girl named Merline. Her mother had to go out and sew, while Merline stayed home and cared for the house. One day Merline’s mother came home sick, and the next day she could not go to work. This was very bad, but Merline was a brave little girl and worked and cared for her sick mother. The doctor came in one day and told Merline she must go out for a walk, and that a walk would put the roses in her cheeks. “And, besides,” said the doctor, “you might find some gold somewhere.”

Merline walked slowly down the road and into the woods, looking for roses, thinking about gold, and listening to the birds. Now and then she stopped to pick some flowers to take to her mother.

By and by she came to an oak tree that had a big hollow place in it. She climbed in, leaned her head back and closed her eyes. No sooner had she done this than she felt herself gradually sinking. She was afraid to open her eyes for awhile, but when she did, she was in the dearest little room, just the kind of room that she had often wished to have for her doll.

Merline was looking about in wonder, when she heard a soft voice behind her. Turning around, she saw a tiny little fairy that looked for all the world just like the fairies in her storybook. Merline told the fairy all about her sick mother, and how she had cared for her, and how the doctor had sent her out to look for roses and perhaps to find some gold.

“You poor child,” said the fairy, “I will help you all I can.” As she said this she took off her pointed cap and shook it over Merline’s lap. As she did this, a great many gold pieces fell from it.

Merline clapped her hands for joy when the fairy told her that all the gold was hers. “Now I shall have enough to buy medicine, and food, and my mother need not work any more,” said she.

She closed her eyes to try to think whether this was all true or not, and when she opened them she was in the old hollow tree again. She looked in her lap for the gold, but there was nothing there except some small seeds. “These may be gold seeds,” said Merline, as she jumped from the tree and ran home.

In a few days her mother was much better, and together they went into the orchard and planted the seeds. Merline watched them as they sprouted and sent tiny shoots above the ground. She and the plants grew up together.

Several years passed and the seeds had grown into trees, and Merline had grown into a fine young woman. The trees were covered with beautiful white blossoms, and when the fruit ripened it looked like big round lumps of gold. “They were seeds of gold after all,” said Merline one day. But everybody else thought they were orange seeds.

LATONA

_In which some selfish people meet their just fate._

Once, long years ago, there lived a goddess called Latona. Juno, the queen of the gods, became jealous of her, and drove her and her two little children away from their home. So Latona wandered around and around with her two little children, who were called Apollo and Diana.

One day she came to a beautiful valley and nearby saw a pond of clear water where some people were gathering willows and osiers. Latona was very tired and thirsty, for she had traveled a long way, and she knelt down to get a drink of water. But the people stopped her and would not let her drink. Latona asked them why they would not let her get a drink of water.

“Water is free to all,” she said. “Mother Nature does not let any one claim as property the sunshine, the air, or the water. I do not want to bathe in this water; I only want a drink to quench my thirst. I ask it of you as a favor. My mouth is so dry I can hardly talk. Please let me have a drink of water. See these children holding out their little hands--surely you cannot refuse them!”

And the children stretched out their little hands to the people. But the people laughed and told her they would hurt her if she did not go away; and they waded into the pond and stirred up the mud with their feet so that the water was not fit to drink.

At this the people laughed as if it were a good joke. The little children cried when they saw how muddy the water was, for they were thirsty. The people did not know they were dealing with a goddess, but they were soon to find out.

Latona became very angry, and lifting up her hands to heaven, said: “May they never leave that pond, but live there all their lives!” And all at once those selfish people began to change. They shriveled up to small size, but their eyes became big and their mouths wide stretched, their feet became webbed and they dived into the pond.

And those people still live there. Sometimes they sit under the water; sometimes raising their heads above the water or swimming about on the pond. Sometimes they come out on the bank, but soon jump back, for the water calls them.

Whenever you pass a pond or lake you hear their hoarse voices. Their throats are bloated, their voices are harsh, their mouths have become stretched from so much croaking; their necks have shrunk up and disappeared altogether, and their heads are joined close to their bodies. Their backs are green, their stomachs white, and when we hear them now croaking and quarreling among themselves we say: “Listen to the frogs! they are certainly talking to-night!”

CERES AND HER DAUGHTER

_In which we find out how it happened that we must have winter time and summer time._

Ceres, the goddess of the harvests, was very fond of her daughter, Proserpina, and seldom let her go into the fields alone. One time when she was very busy looking after the crops all over the earth, she gave Proserpina permission to go down to the shore and play with the sea nymphs.

She had not been playing long before she besought the sea nymphs to go with her into the fields to gather flowers. The nymphs dared not to go upon the dry land because they had to keep themselves wet all the time, so Proserpina ran off alone. Never had she seen such lovely flowers, and the farther she went the more beautiful they became. She was just on the point of turning back when she saw a shrub covered with blossoms. The shrub was so full of them that she decided to pull it up by the roots.

Proserpina pulled and pulled. Finally it came up leaving a hole that deepened and widened before her. All the while there came a rumbling noise out of its depths, like the tramp of horses’ hoofs and the rattling of wheels. She soon saw a team of four horses snorting smoke out of their nostrils, and tearing their way out of the earth drawing a splendid chariot of gold.

In the chariot was a man with a crown on his head. He kept rubbing his eyes and shading them with his hand because he was not fond of the sunlight. This man was Pluto, god of the lower regions. He seized Proserpina, placed her in the chariot, shook the reins, and away galloped the horses. Proserpina screamed for her mother, but Ceres was thousands of miles away.

Down to his palace they went where Pluto did everything to make Proserpina happy. Proserpina made a vow not to taste food while within King Pluto’s dominion, because those who eat there can never leave.

When Ceres heard what Pluto had done she was so miserable she cared neither for seed time nor harvest. She came to the resolution that not a stalk of grain, nor blade of grass should grow until her daughter was restored. All vegetation was parched brown when Mercury was sent to Pluto in hopes of persuading him to release Proserpina.

At last he consented to do so. Proserpina had not eaten food for months and had just bitten a pomegranate, which a servant had brought her, when in walked King Pluto and Mercury. Proserpina quickly withdrew the pomegranate from her mouth, but she swallowed six of the seeds.

Pluto did not know this, however, and let her accompany Mercury back to the earth. But for each of the six pomegranate seeds she has to spend one month in King Pluto’s palace, and only six months with her mother, Ceres.

THE UGLY DUCKLING

(Adapted from Hans Andersen)