Sandmans Goodnight Stories | Page 4

was hopping
and jumping along before them.
"Here it is," he said, stooping to pick up a little gold wand.
"Hold!" cried the Queen; "do not touch it. I will pick it up, and now
that you have told us the secret you shall have your reward."
The Goblin hopped with delight, for he was sure the Queen would
touch him with the wand and he would have a new red coat at once.
"You shall wear the silver cap the rest of your life," she said, and
before the Goblin could jump away the Queen tapped him on the head,
and in place of the tell-tale Goblin there stood a silver thistle, all

prickly and shining among the leaves and bushes.
"Your sister has left us, and we must forget her," said the Queen as the
fairies followed her home. "Let her be forgotten by you all; her wand
shall be saved for a more worthy sister."
The Little Fairy never regretted marrying her River God, for she lived
happy ever after, and sometimes when they come up from the river
bottom to sit in the moonlight she will say to the River God: "What do
you suppose became of the Goblin? Do you think he ever told the
Queen?"
"Of course he did," replied the River God. "He ran as fast as he could
to the Queen, but the silver cap was so uncomfortable for him to wear
that I am sure he has discarded it long before this. So he gained nothing
for playing the spy."
"Perhaps his conscience pricked him and he is sorry," said the Little
Fairy.
The Little Fairy was right. The Goblin was sorry when it was too late,
and the silver thistle swayed in the breeze. It tried to tell the breeze it
was sorry for telling tales, but even the breeze did not wish to listen to a
prickly thistle, so there it had to bloom unloved and alone the rest of its
life.

DAME CRICKET'S STORY
[Illustration: Dame Cricket]
"Come, children, it is time to get up," said Dame Cricket to her ten little
crickets.
"Hurry, now, and take your bath and put on your little black caps and
your little brown suits. The sun has almost gone down over the hill and
the birds will soon be asleep."

But the little crickets snuggled under the bedclothes just as if they did
not hear their mother's words.
"Come, come," she said, a few minutes later, "you will sleep all night if
you don't hurry. Some of our cousins are already singing, and it will
soon be dark."
"Oh dear! why do we have to get up?" said one little cricket, poking his
head over the clothes. "Lots of bugs sleep all night."
"Yes, but they are up all the daytime," answered Dame Cricket, "and
they run a great risk, I can assure you, my dear. Our family used to sing
in the daytime, but if we had kept on there would be no cricket family.
There is a reason for our sleeping days and singing at night."
"Oh, mother, is it a story?" asked all the little crickets, jumping out of
bed with a bound and gathering about their mother.
"Yes, there is a story about our family, and if you will all hurry and
dress I will tell it to you," she said.
Very quietly all the little crickets began to dress, and their mother
began the story:
"Once, long, long ago," she said, "our family sang in the daytime and
slept at night; but one day the Great-grandfather Cricket noticed that
our singing was not as loud as usual, so he called all the children, big
and little, about him and looked at their throats.
"'Strange, strange!' he remarked. 'You all have fine-looking throats, as
fine as ever crickets had, and yet our singing is very faint; there is not
as much volume to it as in the old days. I will call on Doctor Frog this
very day, and see what he thinks about it.'
"Doctor Frog thought awhile and then he asked, 'How many have you
in your family, now, Mr. Cricket?'
"Great-grandfather called us all about him and began to count, and to

his amazement he found our family was only about half the size it
should be.
"'Just as I thought,' said Dr. Frog, 'the voices are as good as ever, but
there are not so many of you, and, of course, the singing is not so loud
as it was once.
"'Shall I tell you the reason for this?' asked Dr. Frog.
"Great-grandfather said that was why he called on him, so Dr. Frog told
him that the birds were eating our family, and if they kept it up we soon
would be out of