Dutch Fairy Tales for Young Folks | Page 9

fashion to have a
figure like a barrel and wear one's clothes so as to look like a small
hogshead.
By and by, the men built a dam to get plenty of water in winter for the
rotting of the flax stalks. The linen industry made the people rich. In
time, a city sprang up, which they called Rotterdam, or the dam where
they rotted the flax.

And, because where had been a forest of oaks, with the pool and rivulet,
there was now a silvery stream flowing gently between verdant
meadows, they made the arms and seal of the city green and white, two
of the former and one of the latter; that is, verdure and silver. To this
day, on the arms and flags of the great city, and on the high
smoke-stacks of the mighty steamers that cross the ocean, from land to
land, one sees the wide, white band between the two broad stripes of
green.
[Illustration: ON AND ON THE RAGING FLOOD BORE THEM
UNTIL DARK NIGHT CAME DOWN]

THE CAT AND THE CRADLE
In the early ages, when our far-off ancestors lived in the woods, ate
acorns, slept in caves, and dressed in the skins of wild animals, they
had no horses, cows or cats. Their only pets and helpers were dogs. The
men and the dogs were more like each other than they are now.
However, they knew about bees. So the women gathered honey and
from it they made mead. Not having any sugar, the children enjoyed
tasting honey more than anything else, and it was the only sweet thing
they had.
By and by, cows were brought into the country and the Dutch soil
being good for grass, the cows had plenty to eat. When these animals
multiplied, the people drank milk and learned to make cheese and
butter. So the Dutch boys and girls grew fat and healthy.
The oxen were so strong that they could pull logs of wood or draw a
plough. So, little by little, the forests were cut down and grassy
meadows, full of bright colored flowers, took their place. Houses were
built and the people were rich and happy.
Yet there were still many cruel men and bad people in the land.
Sometimes, too, floods came and drowned the cattle and covered the
fields with sand, or salt water. In such times, food was very scarce.

Thus it happened that not all the babies born could live, or every little
child be fed. The baby girls especially were often left to die, because
war was common and only boys, that grew into strong warriors, were
wanted.
It grew to be a custom that families would hold a council and decide
whether the baby should be raised or not. But if any one should give
the infant even a tiny drop of milk, or food of any kind, it was allowed
to live and grow up. If no one gave it milk or honey, it died. No matter
how much a mother might love her baby, she was not allowed to put
milk to its lips, if the grandmother or elders forbade it. The young bride,
coming into her husband's home, always had to obey his mother, for
she was now as a daughter and one of the family. All lived together in
one house, and the grandmother ruled all the women and girls that were
under one roof.
This was the way of the world, when our ancestors were pagans, and
not always as kind to little babies as our own mothers and fathers are
now. Many times was the old grandmother angry, when her son had
taken a wife and a girl was born. If the old woman expected a grandson,
who should grow up and be a fighter, with sword and spear, and it
turned out to be a girl, she was mad as fire. Often the pretty bride,
brought into the house, had a hard time of it, with her husband's mother,
if she did not in time have a baby boy. In those days a "Herman," a
"War Man" and "German" were one and the same word.
Now when the good missionaries came into Friesland, one of the first
of the families to receive the gospel was one named Altfrid. With his
bride, who also became a Christian, Altfrid helped the missionary to
build a church. By and by, a sweet little baby was born in the family
and the parents were very happy. They loved the little thing sent from
God, as fathers and mothers love their children now.
But when some one went and told the pagan grandmother that the new
baby was a girl instead of a boy, the old woman flew into a rage and
would have gone