So, when my nurse comes in for me, Home I return across the sea,And go to bed with backward looks At my dear Land of Story-books.
--R. L. Stevenson
Author.-Robert Louis Stevenson (1850-1894) was a Scottish essayist, novelist, and poet. His poems for children are to be found in A Child"s Garden of Verses. His Treasure Island and Kidnapped are splendid books for boys. His style is light, easy, and graceful. He died at Vailima, Samoan Islands.
General Notes.-What did the boy most wish to be? Where was theforest track? Tell about all the different characters you have acted.
Drawn by Elsie Jean Mckissock
The Hunter
Lesson 12
THE THREE WISHES
Time-Once upon a time. Characters-A wood-cutter, a fairy, the wood-cutter"s wife.
Scene I.
Place-The middle of a forest. [The wood-culter is at work. He puts down his axe for a moment.]
Wood-cutter (sighing).-"How very poor, hungry, and unhappy I am. I work hard all day, and yet I can"t get enough to eat."[He picks up some wood, and turns to place it on the stack. Alittle white fairy enters and stands daintily on the log he is cutting.] Fairy.-"Good morning, wood-cutter."[The wood-cutter turns quickly and looks around; he does notsee the fairy at first because she is so small.] Fairy.-"Good morning, wood-cutter." [The wood-cutter looks down and sees her.] Wood-cutter.-" Good morning, ma"am."Fairy.-"I have heard all you say. I know how poor you are, and I am sorry for you. Now, I"ll give you three wishes. Wish what you please, and you shall have it."[The fairy flies away in the winking of an eye.]
Wood-cutter.-"She"s gone before I said, "Thank you." What luck she brings me! Now there"ll be no need to cut any more wood. I shall go home and tell my wife about the three wishes the fairy has given me."[He runs off, whistling a merry tune.]
Scene II.
Place-Inside the wood-cutter"s hut. [The wood- cutter"sWife is scrubbing the floor.]
Wife.- " Dear, oh dear, how tired I am, and how hard I have to work! There"s no fun in being the wife of a poor man." [The wood-cutter runs in. His wife stands up and looks at hisfeet.]
Wife.-"Stand off that patch and wipe your feet. What are you doing home at this time of day, you lazy, good-for- nothing fellow?"Wood-cutter.-"Wife, wife, don"t be angry with me. We soonshall be no longer poor. You won"t have to scrub any morefloors."
Wife.-"Why, what do you mean?"
Wood-cutter.-"As I was cutting wood just now, a fairy came and told me she would give me three wishes."Wife.-"Oh, how glad I am! Let us sit down, and thinkwhat we shall wish for."
Wood-cutter.-" We"d better take our dinner at the sametime. I am very hungry. We can talk about the wishes while we eat."[The wife places a jug of milk, some cups, and piece of drybread on the table. They sit down and begin their meal.]
Wood-cutter.- " We can wish for a great deal of money."Wife.-" We can ask for a grand house."
Wood-cutter.-" We can ask to be king and queen."Wife.-" Or to have some rich gems."
Wood-cutter.-" Well, what shall we ask for first? "[He takes some more bread and begins to eat it.]
Wood-cutter.-" This dry bread isn"t much of a meal. I wish I had a nice sausage to eat with it."[A large sausage falls upon the table. They stare at it inwonder.]
Wife.- "Look at what you"ve done, you stupid fellow. One of your wishes is gone, and you have got only a sausage for it."Wood-cutter.-"Yes, I have been foolish, but we have twowishes yet. We can still ask for a great deal of money, and to be made king and queen."Wife.-"Yes, but we cannot ask for rich gems. Why wereyou so foolish as to ask for nothing but a sausage? I"d never have done that! Would you rather have a sausage than pearls and diamonds?"Wood-cutter.-"I didn"t know that I was making a wish. Thewords slipped out before I could think."
Wife.-"Yes, that"s just like you. You never did know what you were talking about. You are nothing but an ass."Wood-cutter (angrily).-"You are always nagging, andalways turning up your nose at me. I wish the sausage were hanging from the end of it."[The sausage at once jumps from the table to the end of thewife"s nose.]
Wife.-"Now, look what you"ve done. Pull it Off,""
Wood-cutter.-"I really am an ass, after all." [He pulls at the sausage.]
Wife.-"Oh, you"re hurting me. Can"t you get it off?"Wood-cutter.-" It won"t come off. It"s grown to the end of your nose."Wife (crying).-"How very, very foolish I have been! Twowishes have gone, and we are worse off than we were at first.
There is only one left."
Wood-cutter.-" That is true, but we can still wish to be king and queen."Wife.-" Yes, but what would a queen look like with asausage at the end of her nose? I had rather be the wife of a poor wood-cutter than be a queen like that. It"s all your fault."Wood-cutter.-" Well, I am sorry. I wish the sausage wasnot there."
[The sausage vanishes.]
Wife.-" Oh dear, that"s the last wish gone, and we"re nobetter off."
Wood-cutter.-"And now we haven"t even the sausage. I suppose I had better go back and cut some more wood. I shall have to be a wood-cutter all my life."Wife.-"And I shall have to scrub floors."
Dramatized from a story by the Brothers GrimmAuthors.-The Brothers Grimm.
General Notes.-What kind of man was the woodcutter? Why was the fairy kind to him? What kind of woman was the woodcutter"s wife? How did the fairy punish her?
Lesson 13
THE OWl AND THE puSSy-CAT
The Owl and the Pussy-Cat went to sea In a beautiful pea-green boat;They took some honey, and plenty of money
Wrapped up in a five-pound note,
Pound note,
Wrapped up in a five-pound note.
The Owl looked up to the stars above And sang to a small guitar,"O lovely Pussy, O Pussy, my love, What a beautiful Pussy you are,You are,
What a beautiful Pussy you are!"
Pussy said to the Owl, "You elegant fowl, How charmingly sweet you sing!
Oh! let us be married; too long we have tarried: But what shall we do for a ring?
A ring,
