The Beacon Second Reader | Page 8

The four friends liked the place so well that they would not leave it,
and so far as I know, they are there to this day.
WILLIAM AND JACOB GRIMM

LITTLE BIRDIE
What does little birdie say, In her nest at peep of day? Let me fly, says
little birdie, Mother, let me fly away. Birdie, rest a little longer, Till the
little wings are stronger. So she rests a little longer, Then she flies
away.
What does little baby say, In her bed at peep of day? Baby says, like
little birdie, Let me rise and fly away. Baby, sleep a little longer, Till
the little limbs are stronger. If she sleeps a little longer, Baby too shall
fly away.
ALFRED TENNYSON

[Illustration]
MOTHER FROST--I
broad daughters through heart
At the edge of a wood there was a great, clear, bubbling spring of cold
water.
Near this spring lived a widow and her two daughters.
One of them was very beautiful and a great help about the house, while
the other was ugly and idle.
The mother loved only the ugly one, for she was her own child.
She cared so little for the other daughter that she made her do all the
hard work.

Every day the poor girl would sit beside the spring and spin and spin,
until her fingers bled.
One day, while she was washing the blood from her hands, the spindle
fell into the spring and sank to the bottom.
With tears in her eyes, she ran and told her stepmother what she had
done.
The stepmother was angry and said, "You let the spindle fall into the
spring. Now you must go and get it out."
The maiden went back to the spring to look for the spindle.
She leaned so far over the edge that her hand slipped, and down, down,
she sank to the very bottom.
All at once she found that she was in a beautiful field where many wild
flowers grew.
As she walked across the field, she came to a baker's oven full of new
bread.
The loaves cried to her, "Oh, pull us out! pull us out, or we shall burn!"
"Indeed I will!" cried the maiden.
Stepping up, she pulled all the sweet brown loaves out of the oven.
As she walked along, she came to a tree full of apples.
The tree cried, "Shake me! shake me! my apples are all quite ripe!"
"Indeed I will!" cried the maiden.
So she shook the tree again and again, until there was not an apple left
on its branches.
Then she picked up the apples, one by one, and piled them in a great
heap.
[Illustration]
When she had picked up all the apples, she walked on.
At last she came to a small house.
In the doorway sat an old woman who had such large teeth that the girl
felt afraid of her and turned to run away.
Then the old woman cried, "What do you fear, my child? Come in and
live here with me. If you will do the work about the house, I will be
very kind to you. Only take care to make my bed well.
You must shake it and pound it so that the feathers will fly about. Then
the children down on the earth will say that snowflakes are falling, for I
am Mother Frost."
The old woman spoke so kindly that she won the maiden's heart.

"I will gladly work for you," she said.
The girl did her work well, and each day she shook up the bed until the
feathers flew about like snowflakes.
She was very happy with Mother Frost, who never spoke an angry
word.
After the girl had stayed a long time with the kind old woman, she
began to feel homesick.
She could not help it, though her life with Mother Frost had been so
happy.
At length she said, "Dear Mother Frost, you have been very kind to me,
but I should like to go home to my friends."
"I am pleased to hear you say that you wish to go home," said Mother
Frost. "You have worked for me so well that I will show you the way
myself."
She took the maiden by the hand and led her to a broad gateway.
The gate was open, and as she went through a shower of gold fell over
the maiden.
It clung to her clothes, so that she was dressed in gold from her head to
her feet.
"That is your pay for having worked so hard," said the old woman.
"And here is your spindle that fell into the spring."
Then the gate was closed, and the maiden found herself once more in
the world.
She was not far from