Bertha | Page 8

if you will only leave the matter with me.'
"'Do as you please,' said the other councillors. They went back to their own houses, while the young man hurried home, rushed out into the kitchen and picked out the largest kettle there.
"'Wife, cook as much oatmeal as this pot will hold,' he commanded.
"The woman wondered what in the world her husband could be thinking of. But she lost no time in guessing. She ordered her servants to make a big fire, while she herself stirred and cooked the great kettleful of oatmeal.
"In the meanwhile, her husband hurried down to the pier, and got his swiftest boat ready for a trip down the river. Then he gathered the best rowers in the town.
"'Come with me,' he said to two of them, when everything had been made ready for a trip. They hastened home with him, as he commanded.
"'Is the oatmeal ready?' he cried, rushing breathless into the kitchen,
"His wife had just finished her work. The men lifted the kettle from the fire and ran with it to the waiting boat. It was placed in the stern and the oarsmen sprang to their places.
"'Pull, men! Pull with all the strength you have, and we will go to Strasburg in time to show those stupid people that, if it should be necessary, we live near enough to them to give them a hot supper.'
"How the men worked! They rowed as they had never rowed before.
"They passed one village after another. Still they moved onward without stopping, till they found themselves at the pier of Strasburg.
"The councillor jumped out of the boat, telling two of his men to follow with the great pot of oatmeal. He led the way to the council-house, where he burst in with his strange present.
"'I bring you a warm answer to your cold words,' he told the surprised councillors. He spoke truly, for the pot was still steaming. How amused they all were!
"'What a clever fellow he is,' they said among themselves. 'Surely we will agree to make the bond with Zurich, if it holds many men like him.'
"The bond was quickly signed and then, with laughter and good-will, the councillors gathered around the kettle with spoons and ate every bit of the oatmeal.
"'It is excellent,' they all cried. And indeed it was still hot enough to burn the mouths of those who were not careful."
"Good! Good!" cried the children, and they laughed heartily, even though it was a joke against their own people.
Their father and mother had also listened to the story and enjoyed it as much as the children.
"Another story, please, dear Uncle Fritz," they begged.
But their father pointed to the clock. "Too late, too late, my dears," he said. "If you sit up any longer, your mother will have to call you more than once in the morning. So, away to your beds, every one of you."
CHAPTER IV.
THE COFFEE-PARTY
"How would you like to be a wood-cutter, Hans?"
"I think it would be great sport. I like to hear the thud of the axe as it comes down on the trunk. Then it is always an exciting time as the tree begins to bend and fall to the ground. Somehow, it seems like a person. I can't help pitying it, either."
Hans had come over to the next village on an errand for his father. A big sawmill had been built on the side of the stream, and all the men in the place were kept busy cutting down trees in the Black Forest, or working in the sawmill.
After the logs had been cut the right length, they were bound into rafts, and floated down the little stream to the Rhine.
"The rafts themselves seem alive," said Hans to his friend. "You men know just how to bind the logs together with those willow bands, so they twist and turn about like living creatures as they move down the stream."
"I have travelled on a raft all the way from here to Cologne," answered the wood-cutter. "The one who steers must be skilful, for he needs to be very careful. You know the rafts grow larger all the time, don't you, Hans?"
"Oh, yes. As the river becomes wider, the smaller ones are bound together. But is it true that the men sometimes take their families along with them?"
"Certainly. They set up tents, or little huts, on the rafts, so their wives and children can have a comfortable place to eat and sleep. Then, too, if it rains, they can be sheltered from the storm."
"I'd like to go with you sometime. You pass close to Strasburg, and I could stop and visit Uncle Fritz. Wouldn't it be fun!"
"Hans! Hans!" called a girl's voice just then.
"I don't see her, but I know that's Bertha. She came over to the village with me this afternoon.