Childs Story Garden | Page 3

Then it came down. The

people waited. There was no clash of iron. All was still.
Then Mimer stepped up to the armor and touched it with his foot. It fell
apart, and the rock beneath it fell apart, too. Half the rock started to roll
down the hill. On, on it went, faster and faster, and fell with a mighty
splash into the river at the foot of the hill, and if you should go to that
far-away country you could see it lying there, far down below the
surface of the water.
Then a mighty shout arose! Mimer's friends, and the great king, too,
joined in the applause. The giant, no longer boastful, stooped down,
gathered up the two parts of the armor, and went with his friends into a
far country. Mimer took the wonderful sword and went back to his
place in the blacksmith shop, still the master of all the smiths.
Very few people, however, knew that it was the king's own son,
Siegfried, who had made the wonderful sword.

THE SONG OF THE PINE TREE
It was a wee pine tree in a very large forest. It could not see anything
around it, for the other pine trees about it were so very tall. They could
only tell the little pine tree what they saw. At night the little tree would
often gaze at the sky and the stars that peeped out. And sometimes the
big, round moon would pass over the sky. And all day long, all that the
little pine tree could see above it was the blue sky, and the beautiful
white clouds that went sailing by like so many ships on the sea. The
little pine tree wished to grow and be tall, like the rest of the trees, for it
wanted to see what was in the world outside of the forest. The tall pine
trees would sing songs as the wind whistled through their branches, and
the little pine tree waited day after day, so that it might be tall and sing
songs, too. When summer came the birds would rest on the branches of
this wee tree, but would not build nests, because it was too low. When
winter came little white snowflakes came fluttering down and rested on
the branches of the little pine tree.
Year after year the little tree waited, but it grew all this time, and
seemed to stretch higher and higher its beautiful green branches.
One day, when the little snowflakes had fluttered down and made all
the world white, and the wind was whistling a merry tune, the little
pine tree heard some strange noises. The tall pine trees nodded their
heads, for they knew who were coming. They were the woodmen. They

had a sled with them, drawn by horses. The sight was strange to the
pine tree, for it had never before seen woodmen, nor a sled, nor horses.
But the old pine trees knew what it all meant, for they had seen the
woodmen many times. They wondered which tree the woodmen would
choose. Now, the little pine tree had grown, and it was not a wee tree
any longer, but was a straight, strong, beautiful tree. The woodmen
walked about with something very bright and shining in their hands.
When they came to this pine tree they looked at it, shook it and
sounded the ax against its trunk.
How queer the pine tree felt! It wondered what they were going to do
with it. Suddenly a sharp sound rang out in the air, and another, and
still another one. And the pine tree felt itself swaying and swaying, and
down it went, lower and lower, until its branches touched the soft white
snow on the ground. The woodmen lifted the pine tree very carefully,
placed it on the sled and drove the horses away. Pine Tree was happy
now, for he was going to see something of the great, wonderful world.
The woodmen drove the horses out of the forest into the beautiful white
world. On and on they went until at last they came to a little village by
the sea. They drove through the village and into a great shipyard, where
saws were buzzing, hammers were pounding, and busy men were
hurrying about. Pine Tree had never seen anything like this before. He
was lifted from the sled and his beautiful branches were taken from the
trunk. Then he lay with, many other logs for a long time, until one day
the carpenters took him away, and he found that he was helping to
make a part of a ship. Boards were nailed on, and the busy carpenters
worked day after day.
At last the strong and stately ship was finished. It glided gracefully into