The Pot of Gold

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Pot of Gold, The

The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Pot of Gold, by Mary E. Wilkins This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.net
Title: The Pot of Gold And Other Stories
Author: Mary E. Wilkins
Release Date: August 7, 2005 [EBook #16468]
Language: English
Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1
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SHORT STORY
THE POT OF GOLD
AND OTHER STORIES

BY
MARY E. WILKINS
Author of "A New England Nun," "A Humble Romance," etc.

ILLUSTRATED BOSTON D LOTHROP COMPANY 1893

COPYRIGHT, 1892, BY D. LOTHROP COMPANY.

SHORT STORY

CONTENTS.
THE POT OF GOLD THE COW WITH GOLDEN HORNS PRINCESS ROSETTA AND THE POP-CORN MAN. I. THE PRINCESS ROSETTA II. THE POP-CORN MAN THE CHRISTMAS MONKS THE PUMPKIN GIANT THE CHRISTMAS MASQUERADE DILL THE SILVER HEN TOBY THE PATCHWORK SCHOOL THE SQUIRE'S SIXPENCE A PLAIN CASE A STRANGER IN THE VILLAGE THE BOUND GIRL DEACON THOMAS WALES'S WILL THE ADOPTED DAUGHTER

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS.
Flax looks into the Pot of Gold _Frontis._ The settle and the kettle Drusilla and her gold-horned cow A Knight of the Golden Bee The princess was not in the basket! The bee guards patrolled the city "You!" cried the baron scornfully Both the king and queen were obliged to pop Going into the chapel The boys read the notice The prince and Peter are examined by the monks The boys at work in the convent garden The prince runs away He picked up an enormous young Plantagenet and threw it at him They were all over the field Then the king knighted him on the spot There never was anything like the fun at the mayor's Christmas ball Their parents stared in great distress "I will go and tend my geese!" She sang it beautifully A strange sad state of things Nan returns with the umbrellas Such frantic efforts to get away Dame Elizabeth stared with astonishment The count thinks himself insulted The snow was quite deep Two by two The snow man's house Puss-in-the-corner To the rescue "I'll put this right in your face and--melt you!" Letitia stood before uncle Jack School children in Pokonoket Pokonoket in stormy weather Toby and the crazy loon Toby ran till he was out of breath The patchwork woman The patchwork girl Julia was arrested on Christmas Day Julia entertains the ambassador through the keyhole The grandmothers enjoy the Chinese toys "Six"--she began feebly "What!" said Squire Bean suddenly Little Patience obeys the squire's summons Watching for the coach "Just look here!" said Willy's sweet voice The little stranger She almost fainted from cold and exhaustion A conveyance is found

* * * * *
THE POT OF GOLD.
* * * * *

THE POT OF GOLD.
The Flower family lived in a little house in a broad grassy meadow, which sloped a few rods from their front door down to a gentle, silvery river. Right across the river rose a lovely dark green mountain, and when there was a rainbow, as there frequently was, nothing could have looked more enchanting than it did rising from the opposite bank of the stream with the wet, shadowy mountain for a background. All the Flower family would invariably run to their front windows and their door to see it.
The Flower family numbered nine: Father and Mother Flower and seven children. Father Flower was an unappreciated poet, Mother Flower was very much like all mothers, and the seven children were very sweet and interesting. Their first names all matched beautifully with their last name, and with their personal appearance. For instance, the oldest girl, who had soft blue eyes and flaxen curls, was called Flax Flower; the little boy, who came next, and had very red cheeks and loved to sleep late in the morning, was called Poppy Flower, and so on. This charming suitableness of their names was owing to Father Flower. He had a theory that a great deal of the misery and discord in the world comes from things not matching properly as they should; and he thought there ought to be a certain correspondence between all things that were in juxtaposition to each other, just as there ought to be between the last two words of a couplet of poetry. But he found, very often, there was no correspondence at all, just as words in poetry do not always rhyme when they should. However, he did his best to remedy it. He saw that every one of his children's names were suitable and accorded with their personal characteristics; and in his flower-garden--for he raised flowers for the market--only those of complementary colors