Journeys Through Bookland, Volume 2 | Page 5

this sad world?
From dawn to dusk it has been hard work and little pay! At home is an
empty cupboard, a discontented wife, and lazy and disobedient children!
O Death! O Death! come and free me from my troubles!"
At once the ghostly King of Terrors stood before him and asked, "What
do you want with me?"
"Noth-nothing," stammered the frightened peasant, "except for you to
help me put again upon my shoulders the bundle of fagots I have let
fall!"

INFANT JOY
By William Blake
"I have no name; I am but two days old." "What shall I call thee?" "I
happy am; Joy is my name." Sweet joy befall thee!
Pretty Joy! Sweet Joy, but two days old. Sweet Joy I call thee: Thou
dost smile: I sing the while, "Sweet joy befall thee!"

THE BABY
By George Macdonald
Where did you come from, baby dear? Out of the everywhere into the
here.
Where did you get your eyes so blue? Out of the sky as I came through.
What makes the light in them sparkle and spin? Some of the starry
spikes left in.
Where did you get that little tear? I found it waiting when I got here.
What makes your forehead so smooth and high? A soft hand stroked it
as I went by.
What makes your cheek like a warm white rose? Something better than
any one knows.
Whence that three-cornered smile of bliss? Three angels gave me at
once a kiss.
Where did you get that pearly ear? God spoke, and it came out to hear.
Where did you get those arms and hands? Love made itself into hooks
and bands.
Feet, whence did you come, you darling things? From the same box as
the cherub's wings.

How did they all just come to be you? God thought about me, and so I
grew.
But how did you come to us, you dear? God thought of YOU, and so I
am here.

THE DISCONTENTED STONECUTTER
Adapted from the Japanese
Once upon a time there was a man who worked from early morning till
late at night cutting building stones out of the solid rock. His pay was
small and hardly enough to keep his wife and children from starving.
So the poor stonecutter grew discontented and sighed and moaned
bitterly over his hard lot.
One day when his work seemed harder than usual and his troubles more
than he could bear he cried out in despair:
"Oh, I wish I could be rich and lie at ease on a soft couch with a curtain
of red silk!"
Just then a beautiful fairy floated down from heaven, and softly said,
"Thy wish is granted thee." So the poor stonecutter found himself rich
and powerful and resting easily on his silken couch with its red curtain.
As he gazed out, however, he saw the king of the country ride by with
many horsemen before and behind him, and with a great golden
sunshade held over his head. It irritated the rich man to have no parasol
over his head and to see another more powerful than himself, and in his
discontentment he exclaimed, "Would that I were a king such as that
one."
Once again his good fairy appeared, waved his wand, and said, "It shall
be as thou desirest." Immediately the man was king, and before him
and behind him rode his men-at-arms, and over his head was a golden
sunshade. But elsewhere the sun shone fiercely down and dried up the
vegetation with its terrible heat. It was reflected into the face of the
king so that even the golden sunshade did not keep him from suffering.
Once more he sighed discontentedly, "If I could only be the sun!"
[Illustration: THE STONECUTTER AND HIS SILKEN COUCH]
Almost before he spoke he found himself to be the sun, and he began
joyously to send his fiery rays above, below and everywhere
roundabout him. He scorched the grass of the earth, and burned the
faces of its rulers and felt his power unlimited until a little cloud placed

itself between him and the earth and threw back his scorching rays. It
still angered him to find something more powerful than himself, and he
wished aloud that he might be the cloud.
[Illustration: EVERYTHING REJOICED IN A NEW GROWTH]
Again his wish was granted, and he found himself floating where he
wished through the sky. He ran between the sun and the earth and
sheltered the latter so that the grass grew green, the trees leaved out
again, and everything rejoiced in a new growth. Then he sent great
floods of rain upon the earth, filled the rivers till they overflowed,
swept homes and herds into the sea, and destroyed the works of man