Sandmans Goodnight Stories | Page 7

house.
How came you here?"
The poor little Glory had to tell how it ran away from its mother with
the breeze and was left alone in the woods all winter.
"Please don't send me back to the ground. I cannot see a thing there and
I am so lonely," pleaded the little Morning-glory.
"I am sorry for you," said the tree, "but I cannot have my leaves spoiled
on any account. I'll tell you what I will do, but you must be satisfied
and never ask for more liberty. If you do, back you go to the ground."
The poor little Morning-glory was so lonely and sad it was ready to
promise anything to get off the ground.
"You should stay where you are, but you cannot grow up any higher. If
you do I shall grow my twigs and leaves about you and crush you," said
the tree.
So the little Morning-glory had to promise to stay on the trunk of the

tree and never grow any higher, but it sighed for its mother vine, and,
because it could not climb, never grew any big blossoms, but tiny little
flowers which sighed because they could not stretch out their vines and
grow. But the tree kept the little Glory to its promise and not a vine
could get above the trunk.
And then one day when the days grew cold and the Morning-glory vine
was going to sleep for the winter, the runaway Glory was heard to say
to the other blossoms: "Children, be careful of the breeze and what he
may tell you next summer. I may not be here to care for you, but he
will surely come and tempt you to go along with him. He is fickle and
will carry you far, far away and then drop you in a place perhaps worse
than this, for we do not belong here, but in a garden with other flowers.
I ran away from my mother vine one day, and this is where the breeze
left me; so cling to the big tree as long as you bloom, for here you are
safe at least, even if you do not live and bloom in a garden." And then
she went to sleep.

THE PEACOCK BUTTERFLIES
[Illustration: The Peacock Butterflies]
Plain little Miss Butterfly sat on a bush one day, when along came Mr.
Peacock, with his tail full spread.
"Oh--oh!" sighed little Miss Butterfly. "How handsome he is! If only I
could have a dress like the colors of Mr. Peacock's tail all the other
butterflies in the world would envy me.
"But here am I, only a plain little creature, with no color to boast of,
while all my cousins have gorgeously colored gowns. Oh, how I do
wish he would give me two feathers from his tail that I might have
them made into a gown!"
And then this plain little Butterfly, because she was so plain and had no
beauty to speak about, began to think about handsome Mr. Peacock. "I
wonder if he is vain?" she said out loud.

"Vain! Of course he is. There is no one in the world so vain as he," said
a Bee, who was sipping honey near by.
Miss Butterfly did not ask any questions, and Mr. Bee was too busy to
say more. But when he flew away Miss Butterfly began to think, and
the more she thought the stronger became her intention to fly over to
the Peacock and speak to him.
Over she went, alighting on a flower near him.
"Mr. Peacock," she said, "I wonder you never have wished to see
yourself, you are so handsome."
"I have," replied Mr. Peacock; "often I have gazed into the pond and
beheld my handsome self."
"Oh, that is not at all what I mean," said Miss Butterfly. "Suppose you
were to see the very pattern of your beautiful tail flying all about you.
Then you could look at your beauty as it really is."
"I do not see at all what you mean," said Mr. Peacock, who was not
very quick at thinking.
"I mean if you would give me two tips from your beautiful tail I could
have a handsomer gown than any other butterfly in the world," said the
little flatterer, "and besides that, you would no longer hear the
yellow-and-black and those brown-and-black butterflies say that they
were the handsomest creatures in the garden. I should outshine them
all."
Mr. Peacock stood up and strutted about, and all the time little Miss
Butterfly flew close to him and flattered him.
"Oh, how jealous they would be if I had a dress like your beautiful tail,
for there are no colors in the world so gorgeous, and they would call me
the Peacock