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diff --git a/36760.txt b/36760.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..54ecd81 --- /dev/null +++ b/36760.txt @@ -0,0 +1,3642 @@ +Project Gutenberg's Minnie; or, The Little Woman, by Caroline Snowden Guild + +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.org + + +Title: Minnie; or, The Little Woman + A Fairy Story + +Author: Caroline Snowden Guild + +Release Date: July 17, 2011 [EBook #36760] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK MINNIE; OR, THE LITTLE WOMAN *** + + + + +Produced by Heather Clark and the Online Distributed +Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net (This file was +produced from images generously made available by The +Internet Archive) + + + + + + + + + + MINNIE; + OR, + THE LITTLE WOMAN + + A Fairy Story. + + BY THE AUTHOR OF "VIOLET." + + + BOSTON: + PHILLIPS, SAMPSON AND COMPANY, + 13 WINTER STREET. + 1857. + + + + + Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1857, by + PHILLIPS, SAMPSON & CO., + In the Clerk's Office of the District Court of the District of + Massachusetts. + + + STEREOTYPED BY + HOBART & ROBBINS, + New England Type and Stereotype Foundry, + BOSTON. + + + + +[Illustration: MINNIE AND THE SQUIRREL.] + + + + +HOW THE STORY CAME TO BE WRITTEN. + + +One evening, last summer, a little girl, with laughing eyes that no one +could resist, looked up into my face, and said, + +"'Touldn't you wite me a story?" + +"Yes. What shall it be about?" was the answer. + +"O, wite something I could wead myself,--something with +pictures,--something like Tom Thumb, you know; and I shouldn't care if +it had pink covers, too, and wasn't larger than--this." And she held up +the palm of a rosy hand. + +In a moment more she came bounding back to whisper, "I shouldn't care if +you left off the fingers, only make a _cunning_ story, and something I +can wead." + +Instead of leaving off, I should have to add a great many of Minnie's +fingers, to cover the book, which would grow so large, and I couldn't +help it, any more than you can when a little bud opens out to a great +flower. So, I ask her forgiveness; hoping that she will find, inside of +the volume, something "cunning" enough to make her forget the covers. + +And now, dear children, if you like my story, you must all thank Minnie +C----, to whom it is dedicated, with the heartiest good wishes of + + THE AUTHOR. + + + + +CONTENTS. + + + PAGE + + CHAPTER I.--RODOCANACHI, 9 + + " II.--DANDELION, 15 + + " III.--MINNIE'S HOME, 21 + + " IV.--MINNIE AND THE SQUIRREL, 26 + + " V.--A SQUIRREL-BACK RIDE, 31 + + " VI.--LIVING IN A TREE, 36 + + " VII.--MASTER SQUIRREL, 40 + + " VIII.--NIGHT, 45 + + " IX.--THE NEW HOME, 51 + + " X.--IN THE WOODS, 56 + + " XI.--THE SQUIRREL'S PARTY, 60 + + " XII.--BY THE RIVER, 63 + + " XIII.--YELLOW-BIRD, 70 + + " XIV.--IN A BIRD'S NEST, 75 + + " XV.--MINNIE AND THE BIRDS, 81 + + " XVI.--THE SQUIRREL'S TEAM, 87 + + " XVII.--THE MOONLIGHT DANCE, 92 + + " XVIII.--THE LITTLE NURSES, 96 + + " XIX.--MOUSE, 100 + + " XX.--HOUSEKEEPING, 104 + + " XXI.--TROUBLE FOR MINNIE, 108 + + " XXII.--TROUBLE STILL, 113 + + " XXIII.--FREE AT LAST, 118 + + " XXIV.--TURTLE, 123 + + " XXV.--MINNIE'S WINGS, 127 + + " XXVI.--HIDE-AND-SEEK, 130 + + " XXVII.--MINNIE IN PRISON, 135 + + " XXVIII.--NARROW ESCAPES, 140 + + " XXIX.--THE LITTLE SEAMSTRESS, 146 + + " XXX.--STORK, 151 + + " XXXI.--THE SEA-SHORE, 156 + + " XXXII.--STORM AND CALM, 161 + + + + + MINNIE; + OR, + THE LITTLE WOMAN. + + + + +CHAPTER I. + +RODOCANACHI. + + +Somewhere in Massachusetts is a little town as beautiful as a garden. +Nay, in summer-time I think this place is prettier than a garden; for it +is not laid out in long, stiff beds and paths; but the roads wind about +like rivers under its shady trees, and, wherever you see a bed of +flowers, a cosey little house is sure to rise up in its midst; and then +the hills,---- Did you ever read about the giant, who wouldn't give the +fairies any peace, but chopped them up for mince-meat, and did all +kinds of wicked things, till they resolved to kill him, if they could? + +The fairy queen, who was very wise, knew that the giant's strength lay +in a great brass helmet which he wore; so she told her people to watch, +and, if ever he laid it aside, to steal this, and hide it away. + +Now, one summer's day, the giant went hunting, and had such good success +that he came home with his arms full of game, tired and warm enough. + +I don't remember the giant's name: perhaps it was Ugolino, or Loeschigk, +or Rodocanachi. We'll call it Rodocanachi. Down he threw his game,--the +deer and squirrels he had killed to eat; and the poor little robins, and +blue-birds, and humming-birds, he had only killed for the pleasure of +seeing them flutter down from the boughs where they were singing +sweetly--down to the ground, with their broken, bloody wings. + +Rodocanachi threw his game aside, and then lay down himself to drink +from a pretty stream that ran bubbling and sparkling under the shady +trees. He was so thirsty, and had such a monstrous swallow, that, +before long, the stream stopped flowing, and, wherever the sun fell into +its bed, the pebbles began to grow white and dry. He had drank it almost +up, when the giant said to himself, "Bah! what a shallow river, and how +the pebbles get into my teeth! I must have a drop of wine to take away +the earthy taste." + +There, under the shady trees, Rodocanachi drank and smoked, till his +head grew hotter than ever, and so confused, that he stretched himself +upon the grass; and, while trying to collect his thoughts, fell fast +asleep. + +Then, how the fairies flew into sight! Down they swung, from all the +high oaks and elms, on rope-ladders made of spider-web; and, from under +the broad mulleins, up they poured in a swarm; from the other side of +the stream they fitted up rafts of pond-lily leaves, and came floating +across; for, after the giant turned away, the river had run full again. +What had seemed beds of fern-leaves came marching down from the +hill-side, or out from the deep shade,--they were fairy armies, with +banners all astir; and such a rustling as they made, and such a patter +of little feet, and flutter of tiny wings, and singing and shouting of +soft, glad voices, you never heard! + +Last came the car of the fairy queen, a pearly pond-lily, lined and +fringed inside with gold, with a golden seat, and drawn by six +bright-blue dragon-flies, that sprinkled a light from their transparent +wings, as the car shed fragrance all along its way. + +The queen arose and lifted her sceptre; which was tipped with a diamond +so bright it shone like a star, and could light a path at midnight +through the densest wood. She stretched this wand forth, and the noisy +multitude grew so still--so still that you could not hear a sound, +except the giant's breathing;--then she spoke: + +"The time we have watched and waited for so long, so impatiently, has +come; the wicked Rodocanachi is in our power at last. Say, what shall we +do with him, my subjects?" + +Then swelled forth a breeze of little voices, so confused that you could +not tell one from another; and the queen's wand rose again. + +"We have not a moment to waste, be still, and hear the advice of my +general." + +"If I have led your armies bravely, O, great queen--" + +"Yes, yes," interrupted the queen, "but what shall I do with +Rodocanachi? I'll praise you, and receive your compliments afterwards." + +"Suffer me, then, to go alone, and, with my spear, this tough +acacia-thorn, put out the giant's eyes." + +The fairy shook her head, and turned to a statesman, the greatest in all +her kingdom: + +"What say you?" + +"Cut off his hands and feet, and make mince-meat of them, as he made of +my cousin's family!" + +Again the queen shook her head, and turned to a grave judge, the wisest +man in Fairy-land: + +"Let us go together, and, while he sleeps, roll this old sinner off from +the mountain-top, that his bones may be well broken when he reaches the +valley below!" + +At this the little people all shouted for joy, and some ran towards +Rodocanachi, impatiently, to begin; but the fairy, with her sparkling +sceptre, called them back. + +Puzzled and sorrowful, great queen as she was, she wrung her little +hands and wept. "I cannot bear to do such cruel deeds," she sighed; "and +yet how shall I banish this tyrant, and make my people happy? O, I wish +any one, who thinks it a pleasant thing to be a queen, could stand in my +place to-day!" + + + + +CHAPTER II. + +DANDELION. + + +In the court of the fairy queen was a child, as pretty and gentle as a +flower; a little boy, whose work it was to gather dew and honey, and +bring it to his mistress in an acorn-cup, or strewn in separate drops +over some broad leaf. + +Now, this child loved his mistress dearly, and his heart was large and +true as if it had beat in a larger bosom; he could not bear to think of +torturing even the cruel Rodocanachi,--much less could he bear to see +his dear queen grieve. + +Little fellow as he was, he tried to make his way toward the fairy's +chariot; but the people crowded so, and moved their banners about so +restlessly, that more than once he was thrown to the ground, and trodden +under their feet. + +But Dandelion--that was his name--caught at the tip of one of the +fern-leaf banners, which happened to lean toward him; and, when it was +lifted into the air, he swung himself, like a spider, from banner to +banner, over the heads of the crowd. + +Then he climbed up among the pearly, perfumed lily-leaves of the fairy's +car, and, all powdered over himself with gold-dust from its splendid +lining, knelt at his mistress' feet. + +The queen smiled through her tears,--for she was fond of Dandelion,--and +asked why he had come at such a time; then said: "Perhaps my pretty one +can give me some advice." And all the fairy-people laughed at the +thought of a poor little boy being wiser than statesmen and generals. + +Dandelion did not care how small they thought him, if he could but help +his queen; so he said, bravely: + +"O, my great mistress, I was shaking dew out of the cups of white +violets that grow by the stream, when this giant lay down near me and +fell asleep. Then all the people hurried, and I with them, to your +court. I heard you ask what should be done with the wicked +Rodocanachi; and, when no one had an answer to give, and my mistress +sorrowed, I crept back all alone to the hill-top, where the giant lay, +and climbed on his shoulder--" + +[Illustration: DANDELION TICKLES THE GIANT'S NOSE.] + +"My brave little Dandelion!" said the queen. + +"I had picked up a feather, that a wood-dove had just let fall on the +grass; and with this I tickled Rodocanachi's nose--" + +"Fine work!" growled the general. "Suppose you had wakened him, and we +were all slaves again!" + +But the queen, waving the general back to his seat with her sceptre, +said, "Let the boy go on: I am curious to hear the rest." + +"The giant stirred; his head was on uneven ground, and the great brass +helmet tipped, tipped, tipped, and at last it rolled away, and left his +forehead bare." + +"O, Dandelion, you have saved my kingdom!" said the queen; and the +people all shouted "Bravo!" and "Hurrah for Dandelion!" as, without +waiting longer for leave, they rushed to the hill-top where Rodocanachi +lay. + +Then came a clanging sound, as if all the mountains were great brass +drums, and twenty giants were beating them--it echoed so far and wide. + +"Ah, it's the giant's helmet! and now we fairies are safe!" exclaimed +the queen. She clapped her hands, and the six blue dragon-flies flew to +the hill-top with their chariot in time for Dandelion to see the helmet, +still jarring where it had been thrown by the fairy-people, far down +among the rocks. + +"Now, fly, fly quickly," said the queen, "and tear up sods and bushes, +and gather leaves, till you've hidden the helmet so safely that +Rodocanachi can never find it again." + +Fairies, though little people, are not slow; and when at last the giant, +with a snore that sounded like thunder, awoke from his sleep, the +helmet, for which he began to look at once, was nowhere to be seen. + +And the giant's strength was gone. He could not break the stem of a +wild-flower, much less lift the game he had killed that very day. He +could hardly totter home; and, when there, could not open his own door. + +So Rodocanachi began a search for his helmet: all in vain, in vain. He +stepped his great feet into it, and never guessed it was hid underneath +the grass, and bushes, and flowers, that looked as if they had always +grown where they were. + +For a year he wandered up and down the earth, growing thinner and sadder +every day. He had nothing to satisfy his monstrous appetite except +berries and mushrooms. Sometimes the fairies, in pity of his wretched +state, would crack a handful of nuts, or kill a frog or two, for his +breakfast; but Rodocanachi fairly starved and worried himself to death. + +And the queen was so grateful to dear little Dandelion, that she made +him always dress in cloth-of-gold, and gave him a beautiful golden +shield. + +But this was only to remind the people how he looked when the boy crept +up into her chariot that day, all dusted over with gold. When Dandelion +died, a plant sprang out of his grave,--and every one said the fairy put +it there,--that had blossoms exactly like his golden shield; and, when +these withered, there came globes of seed, with starry wings, that +could fly about in the air, and swing on the wind, from leaf to leaf, as +Dandelion swung on the fern-leaf banners once. We call the flowers +Dandelions, to this day. + +When, in summer-time, you see these golden shields sprinkled over the +meadows, and along the roadsides, you must think of the brave little +fairy, who did great things because so willing to do the best that he +could. + + + + +CHAPTER III. + +MINNIE'S HOME. + + +We have found, from the history of Dandelion, that no one is too small +to be of use. We have found that kind hearts may succeed where wise +heads and strong arms fail; but perhaps you will wonder what Rodocanachi +has to do with my story. + +I'll tell you. Have you forgotten that I began to describe a beautiful +little town, with roads that wound about like rivers, and houses set in +the midst of garden-beds? + +Great hills rose on every side, folding against each other as if they +meant to shut out the rest of the world, with its noise, and trouble, +and weariness. So the valley looked, from a distance, like a bird's nest +lined with moss, and leaves, and long fine grass; and the houses and +churches seemed like white eggs scattered among the greenery. + +Or, if you stood in the centre, the slopes of the hills were so smooth +and round, that the valley was like the inside of a painted bowl:--here +were woods and waterfalls like pictures; here meadows of grass and +grain; white patches of buckwheat, and the tender green of oat-fields, +were striped along with brown potato-beds, and patches of dark-green +tasselled maize. + +In this gay-painted bowl, in this soft grassy nest, lived a little girl, +whose name was Minnie, and whose history I mean to tell. + +But what has it all to do with Rodocanachi? + +Why, this: people say that the beautiful valley between the hills was +nothing less than the inside of the giant's great brass helmet! Rivers +had found their way through it now, and forests had rooted themselves on +the sods that were spread by fairy hands; yet, deep down underneath, the +helmet still was wedged among the rocks. Think what a giant Rodocanachi +must have been, when you could thus put a whole town into his hat! + +Whether the wonderful place in which she lived had anything to do with +Minnie's strange history, I cannot tell. See what you think about it. + +The house of Minnie's father was near the centre of the town, and in a +street where there were many other houses. These were not joined +together in a block, like city dwellings, but each had a garden and +summer-house, and a patch of grass in front for the children's +play-ground. + +Around Minnie's house was a curious fence, made of thin strips of iron, +bound at the top with a square board, painted white. + +In the next house lived a boy named Frank. He was a bright, good-natured +little fellow, just of Minnie's age, with rosy cheeks and curly hair, +and as full of fun as he could be. + +Minnie herself was very fond of play. Perhaps she played too hard, for +she did not look hearty and rosy like Frank, but was slight and quick as +a humming-bird, and fluttered about so from one thing to another, that +it was more than her mother could do to keep her always in sight. + +One minute she'd be seated quietly on the door-step, looking at the +pictures in a book; the next she was away, and you only caught sight of +her curls going round the corner of the house. + +Or, perhaps, after you had looked for Minnie in the garden, she would +start up with her laughing eyes from behind your very chair, and the +next instant she was fluttering along the top of the fence, standing on +one foot, and, with her bright pink dress, looking more like a flower +than a little girl. + +The iron strips of the fence were so far apart that Minnie could easily +peep through, and could even crowd her little hand between the squares, +to stroke Franky's curls, or pat his rosy cheeks. + +As soon as breakfast was over, every morning, both Minnie and Frank +would run to the fence, and talk and play there for hours. + +But Minnie was not satisfied with this; she wanted to swing on the +boughs of her father's young fruit-trees, and, as I told you, would +climb the fence, and skip along the rail upon one foot. + +Again and again her mother warned her that she might fall and kill +herself, or at least soil and tear her dress, and that it was rude for +little girls to be climbing trees and fences. + +It was of no use. Even while she was talking, Minnie would clamber into +some place so dangerous that her mother would have to run and take her +down. + + + + +CHAPTER IV. + +MINNIE AND THE SQUIRREL. + + +One day, when Minnie's mother had been telling her how wicked it was to +be so disobedient, and how much trouble she gave every one that loved +her, the little girl thought she never would climb another fence, but +would begin now, and be good. + +So she seated herself on the door-step, and was quiet as many as two +minutes. + +Then a little brown sparrow came hopping, hopping along the top of the +fence, and stopped a short way off, and chirped, as if he were saying, +"You can't catch me!" + +"Can't I?" said Minnie, and another minute she was dancing along the +rail. + +The sparrow flew away, and then Minnie, remembering the promise which +she had made to her mother, went back to her seat. + +She was quiet longer this time, for she began to think how hard it was +to be good. Then she remembered how the sparrow had flown away--away off +alone up into the bright blue air, and could sing as loud as he chose, +and tilt on the highest boughs of the trees, and nobody call him rude. + +And the sparrow didn't have to be washed and dressed in the morning, and +to eat his breakfast at just such a time, and be careful to take his +fork in his right hand, and not to spill his milk. + +O, how much better breakfasts the sparrow had! First, a drink of dew +from the leaves about his nest; then, a sweet-brier blossom to give him +an appetite; and then, wild raspberries and strawberries, as many as he +wanted; and, afterwards, wild honey to sweeten his tongue, or smooth gum +from the cherry-tree to clear his throat before the morning song! + +Then for a merry chase through the woods, instead of going to school. +"O, dear! O, dear!" said Minnie, "why wasn't I made a sparrow?" + +Just then she heard a chattering in the pine-tree over her head, and a +squirrel tripped in sight. Minnie happened to have some nuts in her +pocket, so she quietly rolled one along the top of the fence, and +squirrel came down for it. + +I think wild creatures know which children are their friends, and which +their enemies. At all events, this squirrel did not feel afraid of +Minnie, but sat there nibbling at the nut she gave him, until he had +eaten out all the meat. + +Just then her mother came to the door with some ladies, who had been +making her a call, and off darted squirrel, quicker than you can think. + +"Now, where has he gone?" thought Minnie; "down under the cool grass, I +suppose, or far off into the pleasant woods, where he can have all the +nuts he wants, and play hide-and-go-seek among the boughs. O, dear! I +wish I had been a squirrel! I wonder if I couldn't run along the fence +as quickly as he did just now!" + +Her mother was talking so busily with her friends that she forgot to +watch Minnie, and off the little girl flew, along the rail, skipping +and dancing, and twirling upon one foot. + +And now comes the wonderful part of my story. Minnie thought she heard +somebody scream, and then she looked round, and her mother was gone, and +she was seated on the door-step all alone again, and squirrel, on the +fence beside her, was eating his nut. + +"Come, give us another!" he said, at last, throwing away the shell, and +speaking with the queerest little squeaky, grumbling voice. + +"Why, who taught you how to talk?" asked Minnie, in surprise. + +"O, nobody. Squirrels don't go to school. They couldn't keep us quiet on +the benches, you see. It makes us ache to sit still!" and he ran round +and round the rail of the fence, to rest himself. + +"Pray, don't go away yet," called Minnie; "I want to know if all +squirrels talk, or what you did to learn." + +Down the squirrel jumped into the grass, pulled the blades apart with +his paws, and smelt of this weed and that, till at last he found what +seemed to satisfy him, for he broke off a sprig, and went back to his +seat on the fence. + +"Minnie, how should you like to live with us?" he said. "We have good +times, I tell you, out in the woods. We do nothing but chatter, and eat, +and fly about, all day long. We haven't any master, and the whole +world's our play-ground; the deep earth is our cellar; the sun is our +lamp and stove." + +"But I should frighten the squirrels, I'm so large!" and Minnie stood on +tip-toe, to let him see what a great girl--as indeed she was, beside a +squirrel! + +"The same weed that made me talk like a little girl, will make you grow +small as a squirrel. Do you dare to taste it?" and he tossed the green +sprig into Minnie's lap. + +"Dare? yes, indeed! who's afraid?" She ate the leaves at a mouthful. + + + + +CHAPTER V. + +A SQUIRREL-BACK RIDE. + + +Minnie had only half believed what the squirrel said, and was surprised +and almost frightened when she felt herself growing smaller in every +limb. Did you ever drop a kid glove into boiling water? It will keep its +former shape, but shrink together so as to be hardly large enough for a +doll. Thus Minnie's whole form shrank, until she was no taller than +squirrel himself, and not half so stout, and her hands were as tiny as +his paws. + +"Now we'll have plenty of fun," said squirrel; and they started together +for the woods. + +But Minnie walked so slowly, with her little feet, that her guide soon +lost his patience. He would dart on out of sight, and come back for her, +again and again; he would wait to eat nuts, and dig holes in the ground +to bury some against winter-time; and still Minnie, for all her +hurrying, lagged behind. + +At last squirrel said, "This will never do; seat yourself on my back, +and I'll carry you faster than any steam-car that ever you saw. Here we +go!" + +It was a pretty sight--the little rider and her frisky steed, bounding +so gracefully over the road. They had not gone far, however, when Minnie +called, + +"O, squirrel, pray, pray stop!" + +"What's the trouble now?" + +"You go so fast it takes away my breath, and the underbrush all but +scratches my eyes out; and the grass is full of bugs and ugly +caterpillars, that stretch their cold claws to catch at me as I go +past." + +"Is that all?" He darted by a post, along the fence-rails, and up the +trunk of a tree, and into the leafy boughs. But now it was the +squirrel's turn to complain. + +"Don't pull at my ears so hard! Why, my eyes are half out of my head! +It is bad enough to carry such a load!" + +"But, dear squirrel, I shall tumble off! Here we are, away up in the +air, higher than any house, and you skip and leap, and scramble so, it +frightens me out of my wits." + +"Jump off a minute, then; I know a better way to carry you." + +No sooner had Minnie obeyed, than he was out of sight. With one spring, +he had leaped to the bough of a taller tree;--and now would he ever come +back? + +It made her dizzy to look down. It seemed further than ever to the +ground, now, she had grown so small. And the insects that crept and flew +around her looked so large! A great mosquito came buzzing about with his +poisoned bill, and then a hard-backed beetle trolled past, and two or +three fat ants. And a bird alighted on the bough, and began to sing. + +Minnie drew down a broad leaf to hide her face, for she felt afraid that +the bird would think her some kind of bug, and eat her up. Perhaps he +meant to do so, for he kept hopping nearer and nearer as he sang. + +"O, how I wish I were at home!" thought Minnie. "Perhaps my mother is +looking for me now; and Franky has been standing ever so long at the +fence, with the half of his cake that he promised to save for me. How +could that old squirrel be so wicked as to leave me here alone?" + +Still the bird hopped nearer, and eyed her as he sang, and looked as if +his mouth were watering for a taste. + +"I shall be killed and eaten up by ants and worms if I fall to the +ground," thought Minnie; "or, even if I reached it alive, I could never, +never find the way home, with these small, slow feet. Let the robin eat +me, then." + +But now came a rustling amongst the leaves, and a chirping, chattering +sound, and, lo! her friend the squirrel frisked into sight. He seemed to +be quarrelling with the bird, for she half spread her wings, and +stretched her beak as if she could bite him; and squirrel chattered and +chuckled at her, and his bright brown eyes flashed with anger, till the +robin flew away. + +"A moment later, Minnie, and you would have been changed into a song. +That saucy fellow meant to eat you for his luncheon," said squirrel. +"Now, don't complain that I went away; if you do, I shall go again. We +never allow any grumbling out here in the woods." + +"Yet they allow quarrelling, and murder, and mischief of many kinds, I +see," thought Minnie; "but as I've come so far, I will not go home +without learning how birds and squirrels live." + + + + +CHAPTER VI. + +LIVING IN A TREE. + + +The squirrel now tucked his little friend under his chin, as if she were +a nut, and off they went together, fast as any bird could fly. + +Minnie soon found there was no use in urging squirrel to go in a +straight line, and pick out the smoothest paths: it was not his way. He +made her dizzy, often, by running along the under side of the boughs, or +twirling round them in his frisky way; and, in passing from tree to +tree, whichever branches were farthest apart, they were the ones he +chose for a leap. + +If he heard with his quick ears any sound that frightened him, down +squirrel darted into some hollow trunk, that was full of ants and rotten +wood, and wiry snails; but Minnie found he was growing very tired, and +was all in a perspiration with carrying such a burden; so she did not +complain. + +Yet, when, in passing, her curly hair caught on the rough bark, and had +many a pull, and her cheeks became bruised with brushing against the +leaves, and she shook black ants and beetles out of her dress, Minnie +more than once wished herself home again. + +At last, with a chuckle of delight, squirrel darted up the trunk of a +beautiful elm, and seated Minnie where the great boughs parted into +something like an arm-chair; while he went to find his mate. + +This, then, was her new home! Tired and hungry as she was, the little +girl looked about her with pleasure--it was such a lovely place. On one +side were sunny fields; on the other, stretched the silent, shady wood, +with its beds of moss, and curtains of vine, and clumps of wild-flowers. + +Closer about her, fanning her warm cheeks, were the green leaves of the +elm--more thousands of them than she could think of counting, and all so +fresh, and creased, and pointed so prettily. "Many a game of +hide-and-seek I'll have here!" she thought. + +But now squirrel returned with his wife, who shook hands with her little +guest very politely, and begged her to feel quite at home. Madam +Squirrel was not so handsome as her husband, but was such a kind, +motherly person, that you would not notice her looks. + +She had brought some dry moss from her nest, and with this made a soft +bed for Minnie to rest upon while she prepared dinner. The good soul +even wove the twigs together into a leafy bower above her head, and +called one of her young ones to stand near and keep the flies away, so +that Minnie might have a nap. + +The young squirrel, however, was less thoughtful than his mamma. He had +so many questions to ask, and so much news to tell, that sleep was out +of the question. And Minnie found that the wonderful herb had not only +made her grow small as squirrels, but at the same time had taught her to +understand their language. + +And not this alone; by listening carefully, at first, she could soon +make out what all the creatures around her were saying--the bees, and +birds; and grasshoppers, and wasps, and mice. + +Even the leaves she saw talked to each other all day long; the wind had +only to come, and make them a call, and start a subject or two--then +there was whispering enough! And the grass underneath whispered back, +and perfumed wild-flowers talked with the grass, and the river talked to +the flowers, or, when they would not listen, talked to its own still +pebbles. + +The sun, if he did not speak, smiled such a broad, warm smile, that any +one could guess it meant, "I know you, and love you, friends!" And at +night the silent moonshine stole into the wood, and kissed the leaves +till they smiled with happiness, and kissed the flowers till the air was +full of perfumes they breathed back to her, and kissed the brook till +all its little wavelets sparkled and laughed together for joy. + +Meantime the stars were winking at each other, to think they had caught +the cold moon making love! + + + + +CHAPTER VII. + +MASTER SQUIRREL. + + +No sooner had young Master Squirrel taken up his stand by Minnie's +couch, than he began to tell how fortunate she was in having such +friends. + +"Yes," Minnie replied, "I was thinking of them this very minute, and +wishing I could send word to my dear mother that I was safe. Poor Franky +must be tired of waiting for me by this time; there's no one else to +play with him. And then, if you could only see our baby; she's so sweet +and cunning!" + +"Nonsense!" said Master Squirrel; "she is not half so cunning as you +are, now. I was speaking of your new friends, my father and mother." + +"Well, what about them?" + +"O, we belong to such a fine family, and are so much respected here in +the woods, and my father is so rich!" + +Minnie laughed. "Who ever heard of a rich squirrel? Where do you keep +your money? Are there any banks in the woods?" + +"Banks enough, but they bear nothing except grass and violets. We are +not so foolish as to put our wealth into pieces of white and yellow +stone. My father may not have gold, but he has more nuts and acorns +hidden away than any other squirrel in creation. As for the silly birds, +they never save anything, and the worms and beetles live from hand to +mouth." + +"What happens to the frogs and flies?" + +"O, they creep into a hole, when winter comes, and freeze, like stupid +flowers, till the spring sun is ready to thaw them out again. You see, +we squirrels are the only wise and prudent creatures. And to think that, +among all squirrels, you should have become acquainted with the richest +one--you are very lucky!" + +"If all your father's nuts were brought together and measured," said +Minnie, "how many bushels would there be?" + +"What do I know about bushels? He has at least as many as would make a +wagon-load!" + +Master Squirrel said this with a great air, but Minnie only laughed. "My +father does not pretend to be rich, but he gives away more than a +wagon-load of nuts every year; besides keeping all we want for +ourselves." + +Dear children, as Minnie looked upon the squirrel's nuts, that made him +feel so important, just so God's angels look upon _our_ treasures. +Money, fine horses and carriages, are to them no reason for being proud. +They smile at our gains and savings, which seem foolish toys to them. +The angels have better wealth. + +The squirrel was silent, and so ashamed that Minnie said, to comfort +him: + +"I should not mind never seeing a nut, if I were as bright and spry as +your father; and, whether she were rich or poor, I know any one as kind +and generous as your mother would always be respected." + +"Poh! it is easy enough to be kind. I've seen one ant help another home +with his dinner; I've seen a ground-sparrow, when her neighbor was +shot, feed the hungry young ones left in the nest; but that's +nothing--that doesn't give one a place in the best society!" + +"I don't believe the little orphan-birds waited to ask if their friend +belonged to the aristocracy. But, Master Squirrel, what do you call +society?" + +"I will show you, to-morrow. I heard my mother say that she should give +a grand party in honor of your coming. Though it will be like my parents +(who are very condescending) to ask some of the common people, you may +expect to see along with them all the aristocracy of the woods." + +Now the mother-squirrel came with Minnie's dinner; and, sending her +talkative son away to give invitations for the party, busied herself +with spreading out the tempting meal. + +Of course there were nut-meats in plenty; walnuts on one leaf, chestnuts +on another, and ground-nuts and grains of wheat on a third. Then there +was a bit of honey-comb, and a ripe red strawberry that squirrel had run +a mile to pick on the mountain-top; and there were some slices of what +Minnie thought must be squirrels' tongues, they were so small and +tender; she ate them with a great relish. + +Then squirrel brought, in a nut-shell, a drink of fresh water from the +brook; and, filling her shell again, dropping in a sweet-brier leaf or +two to perfume it, she bathed Minnie's forehead till the tired little +traveller went fast asleep. + + + + +CHAPTER VIII. + +NIGHT. + + +Upon awaking, Minnie was surprised to find all dark about her. The good +old squirrel had tucked the moss of her couch together so nicely that +she was warm and comfortable; but, on reaching out a hand, she felt the +leaves wet with dew. + +Then a wind stirred the branches, and far up in the sky she saw the +twinkling stars, and knew that it was night. + +Night, and the little girl was alone there out of doors! No mother in +the next room listening to see if her children breathed sweetly, and all +was well; no sister Allie to nestle close beside her, now; but the great +lonely sky above her, and the creaking elm-bough for her cradle. + +And how high this cradle lifted her into the air! She hardly knew which +was farthest off, the ground or the sky. It was all so strange that +Minnie thought she must be dreaming. She stretched her hands out in the +starlight; they were small as squirrels' paws,--ten times smaller than +even baby Allie's dimpled hands,--small as those of her smallest doll. +Who ever heard of such hands for a little girl? + +Yes, she felt sure it was a dream; but, turning to sleep, she was +aroused by a loud snoring. Could a man be hidden up here among the +boughs? And suppose he should catch her alive, and shut her up in a +cage, to be advertised, and talked about, and pointed at with canes and +parasols in Barnum's museum? + +But now the snores seemed changing to sounds more like the purring of a +cat. Were not tigers a kind of cat? Suppose this were a tiger, ready to +spring down and seize her in his great paws, as a cat might seize a +mouse! + +No; there came next a loud, rough laugh, startling to hear in the +silence; and then a great flutter, and a scratching sound, and +something alighted on the bough above her--something heavy, for the +bough bent till its leaves were crushed upon her face. + +As soon as Minnie could push the leaves apart she looked up, and saw to +her dismay two great round eyes staring full at her! She covered her own +eyes, and in her terror would have fallen from the tree, had not her +dress been caught among the leaves. + +"What's that? What's that?" a gruff voice called. + +Then Minnie remembered what she had heard her mother, and even the +little squirrels, say, that it is foolish to fear anything; so, as +loudly as she could with her trembling voice, the little woman shouted: + +"How do you do, sir? It's a fine evening, all but the cold!" + +And, venturing to look once more, she saw what a curious animal she had +addressed; with the eyes of a man, he had the face of a cat, and the +bill and body of a bird. + +"Who's here? who are you?" was his only answer. + +"I am a traveller, sir. I have come from my home in the village, to make +my friends, the squirrels, a visit; perhaps I shall have the pleasure of +meeting you at their house." + +"Not so fast! I'm an owl, I'd have you know, and do not keep company +with chattering squirrels. If you wish to see me you must come to my own +home." + +"And where is that?" + +"In the hollow around on the other side of the elm. We owls are +satisfied to sit thinking over our wisdom, and do not go scrambling +about like squirrels, and other simple creatures." + +"How did you happen out to-night?" + +"O, every evening I come up on this branch to take the air, and study +astronomy." + +"Astronomy?--what's that?" + +"It is counting the stars, and telling how they move, and watching when +they fall. I expect to catch one, some day." + +"What shall you do then?" + +"Hide it in my nest, to be sure, until I can plant the seeds, and raise +another crop." + +"Hide a star in an owl's nest! Why, the stars are worlds," laughed +Minnie. + +"O, that is what ignorant people say. This, that you see above your +head, is a huge tree with dark leaves, and hung all over with golden +oranges. When the stars seem to move, it is only the boughs that are +waving; when the stars seem to fall, it is ripe fruit that drops to the +earth. Let me catch one, and you'll see what a fine orange-bush I'll +grow from the seed!" + +"I'd sooner fly out, in the pleasant morning sunshine, and pick up +strawberries, blueberries, checkerberries, all the nice things that grow +in the wood," said Minnie; "but, if you can't be happy without the +stars,--" + +"I never can!" exclaimed the owl. + +"Then I would fly up where they grow, and pick them myself from the +boughs;--not sit in a dark hole, and wait for them to fall." + +But the owl--who thought no one's opinion worth much, except his +own--could not agree with her, and flew away. + +Then Minnie, tired of talking so long, fell asleep once more, hoping, +with all her heart, that she should awake in her little room at home, +with Allie's rosy cheek pressed close to hers, and her mother stooping +to give them both her morning kiss. + + + + +CHAPTER IX. + +THE NEW HOME. + + +Cool air and pleasant music were about her, when Minnie awoke the next +day, but no home. She was wrapped in a bundle of moss, on the elm-bough, +still. + +The bright morning sunshine lay over the leaves, fragrant odors came +stealing out from the wood, and wreaths of beautiful white mist floated +above the brook, and, slowly rising, reached, at last, and melted in +with those other white clouds far up in the sky. Yet the lower end of +the mist-wreath rested still upon the brook, so that it seemed like a +long pearly pathway, joining the earth and heaven. + +Many birds had their nests in the elm, and they were feeding and singing +to their young; or, floating up in the sky, still kept a close watch +over their little homes among the leaves. + +Minnie found she had plenty of neighbors. The tree was like a town, +filled with people of all colors, and sizes, and occupations. Of course, +these were only birds or insects; but Minnie had grown so small that +they looked monstrous to her. The birds were as large as herself, you +remember. Little lady-bugs seemed as big as a rabbit does to us, and +fire-flies were great street-lanterns; butterflies' wings were like +window-curtains; bees were like robins; and squirrels, as large as +Newfoundland dogs! + +As her friends did not come to bid her good-morning, the little girl +thought she would go in search of them. She felt afraid to move, at +first, but found soon that the bough was as wide for her small feet as a +good road would be for larger ones; so, steadying herself now and then +by help of a twig or leaf, she wandered on. + +Sliding carefully down the slope of a bough, she found herself, at +length, close by the entrance of the squirrel nest. Her friend, the +young squirrel, was just sweeping the door-way with his bushy tail; +but, when he took Minnie in to see his brothers and sisters, she did not +find their home a very orderly place. + +She could not step without treading on empty nut-shells, bits of moss, +or broken sticks; then the place was dark, and did not have a clean, +sweet smell, like her mother's parlor. In one corner lay a heap of young +squirrels, some so small you could put them into a nut-shell--others +larger, and larger still. The nest was so cold and damp that the poor +little things had crept together to keep warm. + +Master Squirrel said, by way of excuse, that his mother was so busy, +preparing for the party, she had not been able to set her house in order +this morning; but Minnie never afterwards happened to go there when it +was in better order than now. + +"Where is your mother?" she asked. + +"In the woods, at some of our other houses; for we squirrels don't live +always in one place. She is gathering nuts and all kinds of goodies for +our supper, and will scold me well if I have not the table set when she +comes home." + +"O, let me help you!" + +Squirrel was glad to accept her offer, and they went to work in earnest. +First, Minnie insisted upon bringing all the young ones out into the +sun, when they stretched out their little heads and paws to receive the +pleasant warmth, while Minnie returned to see if anything could be done +with their disorderly home. + +She sent squirrel into the woods for some pine leaves, and of these made +a broom as large as she could handle. Then she swept, and dusted, and +brushed black cobwebs down, and wiped the mouldy walls, and put fresh +leaves in place of the musty moss on which the children had laid. + +By this time the old squirrel had come back from the woods again; and +told what a beautiful place his wife had found for their feast, and how +glad she would be of Minnie's help. He limped a little, and said his +back ached still from carrying such a load the day before; but, as there +was no other way for the little woman to reach the ground, she might go +with him, only be sure not to pull his ears! + +No sooner said than done. Down the trunk of the tall tree they went +with a leap or two, and along the stone walls, over bushes, through +hollows, further and further into the wood, till they came to a lovely +spot. + + + + +CHAPTER X. + +IN THE WOODS. + + +A number of trees stood so closely together that they seemed like a +solid wood; but, when the squirrel had made a way for Minnie to pass +under the heavy boughs, she found inside a circle, covered only with +fine soft grass and moss, a few wild flowers nodding across it, and the +leaves, with their low, pleasant rustle, closing around it like a wall. + +"Now," said the old squirrels, who were too wise to be proud and +boastful like their son, "now, Minnie, you know better than we what is +proper, and you must tell us how everything shall be arranged." + +Nothing could please Miss Minnie better than this. Her mother had not +even allowed her to go into the supper-room before company came; and +here she was to order all things, and be herself the little mistress of +the feast! + +They decided to have their party in the afternoon, because at that time +the sunshine always slanted so pleasantly through the wood. If they +waited till evening, the dew would begin to rise, and there was no +depending on the moon for light; and their children, besides, would be +needing them at home. + +First, Minnie said, they must have a more convenient entrance to the +supper-room. On one side stood a large azalea, or wild honeysuckle, in +full flower, and near it a sweet-brier; between these were some +whortleberry bushes, around the roots of which last Minnie made the +squirrels burrow till she could drag them away. + +Then, smoothing the broken earth, she covered it with sods of fresh +moss, while overhead the sweet-brier and azalia met in a beautiful +archway of fragrant leaves and flowers. + +And it was so much prettier to have flowers growing in the ground than +if they had been cut and brought from some green-house! Both Minnie and +the squirrels were delighted with their dining-hall. + +Next they spread shining oak-leaves for a table-cloth, which was better +so than if it had all been in one piece, because now, wherever a tuft of +violets grew, or any of the slight starry flowers that dotted over the +grass, they could remain there, and save the trouble of arranging vases. + +Then came a great variety of food,--nuts, honey, grain and berries, +apple and quince seeds, bits of gum, and strips of fragrant bark. Minnie +was shocked when she saw among the game a dish of dead ants, and one of +frogs' feet, and another of red spiders; but the squirrel said she must +have something to suit all tastes, and the birds would be disappointed +if they had not animal food. + +Then she begged Minnie to slice some cold meat for her, and brought a +big black beetle to be shaved up like dried beef, and an angle-worm to +be cut in slices for tongue. + +"O, dear!" exclaimed Minnie, as the little round slices of this last +fell into the plate, "can this be what I mistook for tongue, and +relished so heartily last night?" + +"Very likely," squirrel answered; "it is one of the tenderest meats we +have." + +Minnie resolved to eat no more dainties in the wood, until she had first +found out their names; but she had not time to grieve much over her +mistake, for the father-squirrel came to tell that he had promised his +oldest children a race in the woods, and invited her to make one of the +party. + +She was glad to take lessons in running of such a quick little body as +he; and, while his young ones frisked and bounded, and chased each +other, he was very patient in teaching her all his arts. Before many +such lessons, Minnie could balance herself on the most uneven and +unsteady place; could climb slippery boughs, skip without stopping over +the crookedest places, and even leap from branch to branch, so nimbly +that squirrel was proud of his pupil. + +He would not let her go very far that day, because she must be fresh for +the afternoon, when his guests would come. + + + + +CHAPTER XI. + +THE SQUIRREL'S PARTY. + + +In due time the company arrived, and all were in such good spirits, and +so polite, that Minnie thought she had never known a more charming +party. + +On each side of herself sat the birds; a blue-bird and yellow-bird +first, then a thrush and an oriole, then--cunning little creatures!--a +wren and an indigo-bird. The robins and bobolinks were not invited, +because they were such gluttons. The crows could not come, because they +were so quarrelsome, and the cherry-birds were too great thieves. + +Then came a whole row of squirrels, that sat with their bushy tails up +in the air, and paws folded quietly, notwithstanding the nuts before +them, while they made themselves agreeable to the meek mice and moles, +that were all a-tremble, not often finding themselves in such grand +company. + +One large gray squirrel came in his rough hunting-coat; but he talked so +loud and boastfully, and seemed to look down upon all the others with +such contempt, they were not sorry when he said, at last, that he had +promised to take a walk with his distinguished friend the rabbit, and +must therefore go home. + +Several toads were invited, and Minnie had even taken pains to roll some +round stones into the room for their seats. They came, and were chatting +gayly, when their eyes, that wandered over the delicious feast, fell +upon the dish of frogs' feet, and home they hopped at once, offended. It +was a great mistake, on the squirrel's part, to bring such guests and +such a dish together; for who could be expected to relish seeing his +cousin chopped up into souse? + +The butterflies came, but declined taking seats at the table, as they +never ate anything. They fluttered above, with their beautiful velvet +wings, and clung to the flowers, bending them down with their weight; +and, when Minnie observed how wistfully the birds were eying them, she +thought perhaps the butterflies had a better reason than they gave for +keeping at a distance. + +After eating all they wanted, squirrel proposed that his guests should +go to the brook for a drink. It was not far, and Minnie had swept the +path nicely with her broom, and spread new moss wherever the ground was +bare; so they seemed to be walking on a strip of green velvet carpeting, +as, two by two, they started for the water-side. + +Some little green, graceful snakes followed on from curiosity, while +over the heads of the party fluttered all the butterflies; and a rabbit, +chancing to see them, very politely asked squirrel if he might join the +guests. + +Meantime the toads, that had crept into a corner to mutter about their +insult, hopped back to the table, and, along with a swarm of flies and +ants, and greedy robins, crows, and bobolinks, soon finished all that +the company had left. + + + + +CHAPTER XII. + +BY THE RIVER. + + +A yellow-bird was the companion of Minnie's walk, and a pleasant little +man he was, with his gayly-spotted wings, his graceful manners, and +musical voice. + +The oriole was handsomer, and had a sweeter song; but he was proud, and +spoke in a sharp, short way, that was not agreeable. Minnie said to +herself, "I can listen to oriole while he sings at the top of the tall +elm; but for my friend I will choose some one with gentler behavior, if +he hasn't so loud a song." Do you think Minnie was wise? + +Yellow-bird was equally pleased with his companion, and very ready to +converse. He told her that he had often wished to become acquainted with +some of his neighbors in the village, but dare not trust them. + +"Why?" Minnie asked. + +"O, one of my brothers, after eating the plant that makes us wise, heard +a little girl begging him to come and live with her. She promised a +beautiful cage in the summer-house, and plants to eat and drink." + +"And he went?" + +"Yes; he was so unwise. Before the end of a week the little girl had +forgotten to feed him, and he lay dead in the bottom of his cage." + +"Yet that was an accident; the little girl was sorry, I am sure." + +"Her sorrow did not bring him to life again; and I could tell sadder +stories--O, too sad stories for to-day!" Here yellow-bird stopped +talking, and breathed forth a low, mournful song. + +The squirrel, hearing him, turned quickly: "This will never do! Why, +friend, we're going to a feast, and not a funeral; pray give us some +gladder music." + +"Excuse me, I never can sing so soon after eating," said yellow-bird, +who was not willing to leave his new friend. + +As for Minnie, she had never stood so near a bird before in her life; +and could not be satisfied with looking into yellow-bird's round eyes, +and stroking the soft feathers on his neck. She had a hundred questions +to ask; and he answered so graciously that she began to think she would +rather live with those gentle creatures, the birds, than with her kind, +but wild and frisky friends, the squirrels. + +You may remember it was Minnie's wish at first to live like a bird, on +that morning--how long ago it seemed to her now!--when she had sat on +her father's door-step, and watched a sparrow soar into the sky, and +sing. + +They had not time for many words before reaching the water, which in one +place spread to a little pond beneath the trees, and reflected the leafy +branches on every side, and the sky, with its pearl-white clouds, and +the sunshine that lay across it like a path of gold. + +An aged birch-tree, uprooted by the wind, had fallen into this pond. Its +large and handsome boughs were still alive; and here flew oriole at +once, singing as he alighted, and swung on the tip of a branch. The +other birds followed through the air, except Minnie's friend, who +walked quietly on with her. The squirrels bounded in a trice across the +broad, white trunk of the tree. The mice and the moles followed them, +and the rabbit was not far behind. The butterflies chose to hover above +the sunny water in a flock. + +Then squirrel made a speech, thanking his guests for the honor they had +done him in spending so much time at his poor feast. He was glad it had +been in his power to make some return, by presenting to them so +distinguished a guest. + +The rabbit took this compliment to himself; so he replied by assuring +squirrel that the obligation was all on the part of his guests. In +ending, he regretted that he had not chanced to meet earlier with such +pleasant companions; the truth was, he had only an hour ago been able to +rid himself of a gray squirrel, a rough, unmannerly fellow from the +backwoods, whom he would have been ashamed to bring into such polite +society. + +"Ha!" said squirrel, forgetting his dignity as host, "the very chap that +honored us with his presence a little while, and boasted about his +mighty friend, the rabbit." + +Rabbit folded his ears together very wisely at this, and replied: "A +person who feels it necessary to boast of his friends, is never much in +himself. Now, _I_ always feel that I'm as good as any of my +acquaintance." + +"I wonder which is worse vanity," thought Minnie, "to boast of one's +friends or one's self!" + +But here yellow-bird hopped upon a spray, and sang a delightful little +song in honor of their fair guest, whom he compared to a flower, a +little cloud, a soft willow-bud of the spring-time, a white strawberry, +and many other things in which birds delight. + +The company were so pleased that they begged to hear the song +again,--all except rabbit, who, finding his mistake at last, hopped +further in among the leaves, and hid himself, feeling very much ashamed. + +Then yellow-bird, instead of repeating his first song, sang another, +which was sweeter still. It told how full the world might be of love +and happiness, how many such good times as this all creatures might +have, if they would but be gentle and kind, willing to please, and ready +to forgive. + +As the last note died away, oriole, impatient to show his skill, +remarked that yellow-bird's song was too much like a sermon; and, +without waiting for invitation, he then gave what seemed to him a better +one. + +And it was enchanting music. O, so clear, and wild, and joyous, that it +made the other birds lift their wings, and long to fly! + +Hearing a plunge in the water near, and a sigh of pleasure, Minnie +looked down between the branches, and saw a handsome green frog, that +had come to listen to the music; and swarms of little fish, with +rainbow-colors on their silver scales, all listening too. + +So the afternoon passed in speeches and music. The squirrels, who could +not sing, told stories that made the company laugh right heartily. Even +Minnie took her part in the entertainment, by relating how people in the +village lived, how they ate, and drank, and slept, and why they did +many things which had puzzled the birds and squirrels amazingly. + +All this was as interesting to her listeners as it would be for us to +read Robinson Crusoe, or Dr. Kane's travels among the icebergs and +Esquimaux. + +Repeating their thanks to squirrel, and each one politely urging Minnie +to visit him, the company now went home. + +Yellow-bird insisted upon taking Minnie on his wings, but soon found the +little woman so heavy that he was satisfied to let her dance along by +squirrel's side, and flew off to find his young. He had, too, a world to +tell his mate about the merry feast, and the queer little lady in whose +honor it was given. + +I am afraid all the birds and squirrels that were at the party kept +their mates or their brothers and sisters awake that night, relating +what they had seen and heard. Even the mice talked about it in their +cellars under ground; and oriole did not sleep a wink, he worked so hard +composing a song to Minnie's eyelashes. + + + + +CHAPTER XIII. + +THE YELLOW-BIRD. + + +At daybreak the next morning yellow-bird came with the indigo-bird and +thrush, and awakened Minnie with their charming songs. Sunrise, you +know, is the time birds always choose for serenades; and I am not sure +they are wrong--everything is so fresh, and still, and dewy, then. + +She could hardly wait till the music was over before shaking away the +moss in which she had slept, and going to bid her friends good-morning. +Skipping fearlessly along the boughs,--for she had not forgotten +squirrel's lessons,--just as the birds were preparing to fly away, +Minnie surprised them with a sight of her merry face. + +They did not chat long, for Minnie could see that her friends were +impatient for their morning sail up in the fresh blue air. So she +begged them to fly away, while she would go to the squirrel-nest and +find if breakfast was ready. + +She met squirrel, who, though much fatigued, and sometimes obliged to +put his tail before his mouth in order to hide his gapes, was as civil +as ever, and bade her a pleasant good-morning. + +His wife did not happen to be in so amiable a mood. Not only was she +tired from all the work and anxiety of the day before, but Minnie's +sweeping and dusting, she said, had put everything out of order in her +nest. Besides this, the children had taken cold from staying out of +doors so long, and the light of the sun had given them weak eyes. + +Minnie was troubled, and offered her help in making things go right +again. + +"No," Mrs. Squirrel replied, "I have had enough of such help, and now +you can best assist me by keeping out of the way." + +This was very rude, and brought tears into Minnie's eyes. It was bad +enough, she thought, to be so far from home, but to be treated unkindly, +and after she had worked so hard in hopes to please the squirrel, this +was more than she could bear. + +Running so far from the nest that she could not hear the angry voice +within, Minnie seated herself on the bough, and, all alone there, +thought of her pleasant home, and the mother who was so ready to praise +her when she did right, and just as ready to forgive her when she did +wrong. She seemed to see Franky looking through the fence, waiting, and +wondering if she would never come. Then she saw Allie open her large +eyes, and, peeping between the bars of her crib, look all about the +room, and stretch her little hands forth for Minnie, and no Minnie +there! + +Even if she went back now, would they know her, shrunk as she was to a +mere doll? Before she could reach her father's door, wouldn't the boys +in the street pick up such a curious little being, and put her in a +cage, or sell her, perhaps, to be killed and stuffed for some museum? + +"O, I haven't any home, or friends in all the world!" she said, and, +covering her face with her little hands, Minnie sobbed as if her heart +would break. + +"Hallo, there! what's the matter?" shouted young Master Squirrel from +the bough above. "It can't be you're crying because the old woman is +cross? Why, she'll be good as chestnuts by the time you see her again. +Here, catch these nuts! she made me crack them for your breakfast." + +Minnie thanked the squirrel, but she could not eat. Her heart was too +heavy. She hoped that, when the birds came back, they would not find +her, for she was too much grieved to talk, or even listen to music. + +She had hardly drawn the leaves about her, when she saw the indigo-bird, +and then the thrush, making their way towards the elm. Minnie held her +breath, while they alighted and hopped from bough to bough, and turned +their heads on one side to peer between the leaves, and sang little +snatches of song, that she might hear and answer them. At last they flew +away, and when oriole came, he had no better success. + +Then came yellow-bird, with a fresh ripe strawberry in his mouth. He +also looked in vain, until, just as he was lifting his wings to go, his +quick ear caught a sigh, so low that only loving ears would have heard +it, and he flew at once to Minnie's feet. + +She still held the leaves fast, and yellow-bird was obliged to tear them +with his beak before he could be certain that she was within. + +"Poor little soul! what is the matter?" he said, when he saw her sad +face, wet with tears. + +Then Minnie put her arms around yellow-bird's neck, and told all her +troubles. He did not speak a word until she had finished, when he +exclaimed, "You shall not live with the squirrels any longer. Come to my +own warm little nest on the other side of the elm. My mate will be glad +to see you, and you shall have sunshine and music all day long. Tell me, +Minnie, will you come?" He ended with a little strain of song, so sweet +and pleading that Minnie could have kissed him for it, only, you know, a +bird's mouth is rather sharp to kiss. She pleased him better by +promising to go that very hour to his nest. + + + + +CHAPTER XIV. + +IN A BIRD'S NEST. + + +Yellow-bird's nest was all that he had promised. It was built on one of +the outer boughs of the elm, deep enough among the leaves to be shady at +noon, yet not so deep but in the cool of morning the sunshine could rest +upon it. + +Then the view was much finer than that from squirrel's side of the tree. +Minnie looked down upon fields of wild flowers all wet with dew, across +at hills that rose grandly against the sky; and, better still, between +the trees she caught a glimpse of the town, with its white spires and +cottages. + +It was an important day with yellow-bird, for a whole brood of young +ones were leaving his nest for the last time. He had taught them to sing +and fly, had shown them where to find food, and given so much good +advice, that now he did not feel afraid to trust them by themselves. + +He brought his children to see Minnie before they left, made them sing a +little song of welcome and farewell, and then watched with pleasure as +they flew into the wood, and soon were lost amid its shady boughs. + +Minnie asked if it did not make him sad to lose his treasures all at +once. + +"O, no," he said; "if one of my chicks had been blind, or had grown up +with a broken wing, and could not leave the nest, I well might grieve. +Now that all has gone well, I'm only too glad to see them fly away." + +"But suppose that, when out of your sight, they fall into trouble or +mischief?" + +"They are never out of God's sight. Cannot he take better care of them +than a little bird like me? Ah, Minnie, it isn't best to fret! The +smaller and weaker we are, the more care our heavenly Father takes of +us." + +Yellow-bird's mate came now to see what her husband could be talking +about, and invited Minnie to take a nearer look at her nest, which she +had been industriously cleaning and mending since her children went. + +It was a smooth, cool bed of horse-hair and moss, set prettily amidst +the thick green leaves. Slender roots and threads were woven across the +outside, and what was Minnie's delight to find among them a scrap of one +of her mother's dresses, which yellow-bird said he had picked up beneath +a window in the village, for it was so soft, and covered with such +bright flowers, he knew it must please his mate! + +Minnie felt that the nest would be dearer to her, and more like home +than ever now. Yet she knew it was not civil to leave her good friends, +the squirrels, without a word of good-by; so, lighter-hearted than when +she left it, she skipped back to their den on the other side of the +tree. + +She found the old lady's temper very much improved, perhaps because she +had her nest in what she called order again. Minnie tumbled over +nut-shells, tore her dress against thorny sticks, and, when she +stretched her hand toward the wall, trying to rise, she felt cold +mushrooms growing out of the crumbling wood. + +It was dark, too,--no prospect there,--and there was the old musty odor, +which she remembered so well, instead of the sweet air and fresh green +leaves above yellow-bird's nest; and there was the heap of sleepy young +squirrels squeaking in a corner. + +"O, dear!" thought Minnie, "how could I ever have wished to live in a +place like this?" + +Mrs. Squirrel was polite once more, and kindly offered her some +luncheon, but did not ask her to stay. And, though surprised, she did +not seem grieved when the little lady told her that she had come to say +farewell. + +Not so squirrel himself, who was proud of Minnie, and fond of her, and +felt so badly at parting, that his lips trembled too much to bid her +good-by, and he ran off into a hole in the ground to hide his tears. + +"Dear squirrel! he has done the best he could for me," she thought; "and +now, because he doesn't happen to have a pleasant home, I am about to +leave him! I have a great mind to go back!" + +Just then a nut-shell dropped on her head, and, looking up, she saw +Master Squirrel, who laughed at her surprise. Leaping a little nearer, +he began: + +"So you've returned, Miss Runaway! My mother said it would be too good +luck to lose you in a hurry. She was sure we should see you before the +sun went down." + +"Then your mother doesn't like me?" + +"O, yes! she says you're a cunning little body, and mean no harm; but, +like all company, you make a great deal of trouble, and do no one any +good, that she can see." + +"What does your father say to that?" + +"He takes your part; tells her he's ashamed that she is not more +hospitable; and then they quarrel well, I tell you!" + +"There shall be no more trouble on my account," said Minnie, with +dignity. "I am going to live with my friends, the yellow-birds. I have +bidden your father and mother good-by, and now good-by, squirrel; you +have all been very kind to me." + +"No we haven't, Minnie; and I have been rudest of all; and you, so good, +to be satisfied with our poor home!" + +"Dinner-time! plenty of checkerberry buds and juicy berries in the +wood!" sang yellow-bird on a bough above. "Come, Minnie, come!" + +"Good-by, squirrel! Yellow-bird, here I am." + +"O, Minnie!" was all the answer squirrel could make. She left him wiping +his eyes on his hairy paws--left him, and skipped away with her new +friend. + + + + +CHAPTER XV. + +MINNIE AND THE BIRDS. + + +For a little while Minnie was very happy with the yellow-birds; they +were gentle and loving as the days were long, and only disputed to know +which should have the pleasure of doing most for their company. + +At home it was all sunshine and music, exactly as they had promised; +and, when there was too much sun, they flew to the wood, where hundreds +of other birds met also, and merrily passed the long, bright afternoons. + +It was like a party every day. Instead of needing to set a table each +time, there was the whole wood, with its flowers, berries, gums, and +spicy buds, spread out for them to take their choice. The wine bubbled +up freshly from their cellar, and spread into bright wells wreathed +with flowers. No need of corkscrews and coolers; yet, the best wine in +the world never tasted so good, nor left such clear heads, and such +merry, thankful hearts, as this simple water--the only drink the birds +asked at this woodland feast. + +Minnie made friends among great and small, she was so sprightly, and +ready to please, and so willing to be pleased herself. This last is a +great secret in winning friends. If people find it hard to amuse us, +they very soon grow tired of trying, and leave us to entertain +ourselves. + +But Minnie had a pleasant word and a merry answer for every one. She did +not laugh at the oriole for his foolish pride, nor at the ant for her +stinginess and silence, nor at the bee for making such a bustle, nor at +the indigo-bird for her diffidence. She knew it was their way, and only +took care not to imitate their faults herself. + +Meantime she never was tired of admiring their better traits of +character. Let the oriole be proud as he would; she knew that hardly any +one else could sing such lovely songs as he was always twittering. Let +the ant be ever so mean and dumb; who else had such an orderly house, +and such a store of food? Let the bee buzz; couldn't he turn the poorest +weeds into delicious honey, and set it in waxen jars of his own making, +yet so neat, and delicate, and well contrived, that any man or woman +might be proud of them? Let the indigo-bird be shy; once hidden among +the leaves, wasn't she willing enough to trill forth the clearest, +loudest, sweetest little songs? + +Ah! in this great wide world there is no creature but has some precious +gift for us, if we can only find it. The little bird is weak, but his +voice can fill the whole sky with music. You may know some rough boy who +seems wicked; but be sure there's a good spot in his heart, and, by +treating him kindly, we may make that good spot larger. Isn't it worth +while to try? + +Though yellow-bird, after giving many lessons, found he could not teach +Minnie to fly, he taught her so much that, by resting one hand on his +neck, she could easily glide along with him through the air. + +In this way they fluttered from bough to bough in the wood, then took +longer flights through sunny meadows, and at last ventured up among the +clouds, where Minnie had longed to go. + +Up, up, they soared,--yellow-bird singing for joy,--till there was +nothing around them except the bright blue air, and, close over their +heads, rose the pearly morning clouds. + +Many a time had the little girl sat on her father's door-step, and +longed to be where she now found herself. Many a summer morning she had +watched these same clouds gather and wrap themselves together, till they +looked like splendid palaces of pearl--pearly domes and spires +dazzlingly bright in the sunshine, and porticos with pillars of twisted +pearl; and, at little openings, she could look through vast halls, all +paved with pearl, and curtained with silvery hangings. + +At sunset the roof of her beautiful palace had changed from pearl to +silver, and all its spires were gilded; the silvery hangings changed to +rose-color; the floor, instead of pearl, was paved with solid gold, and +the pillars were made of shining amethyst. + +"O," Minnie had thought, "if, instead of this little house, with its +dull, iron fence, I could live in such a noble home as that, how proud +and happy I should be!" + +Then, as a man passed, with his ladder, to light the street-lamps, she +wondered if hundreds of ladders tied together couldn't reach as far as +the clouds. + +"How I would skip up the rounds," she thought, "and, when I had reached +the highest, send my ladder tumbling back to earth! The ladder would +break, so no one could follow me; and all day long I'd fly from hall to +hall, or, through great winding staircases, find my way to the golden +cupolas, where I could look down into the poor old dusty earth I had +left." + +And now, without tying a hundred ladders together, here she was among +the clouds. Alas! the pearly halls, that from below had looked so +beautiful, were damp and dismal vapors. It was chilly and lonesome up +there, while, wonderful to tell! the earth seemed a warmer, sunnier, +more cheerful place than she had ever known it. There was the pretty +town, with its surrounding hills and woods, with its winding rivers, and +green fields, and tranquil lakes. In all the sky there was nothing half +so beautiful! + + + + +CHAPTER XVI. + +THE SQUIRREL'S TEAM. + + +After the long sky-journey, Minnie was glad to reach her home in the elm +once more. She was weary, wet, cold, and disappointed. She longed for +the blazing fire in her mother's room, and the warm, pleasant drink her +mother could mix for her. She longed to hear Frank's merry voice, and to +see baby Allie with her golden curls. + +There was no use in longing. Even if yellow-bird should fly with her to +the very window, they wouldn't know her. They would only laugh at the +curious little creature she had grown, and hang her up in the cage with +their canary-birds. So she would make the best of her home that was +left, and not distress her kind friends by wearing a gloomy face. + +She was trying to smile, when a pleasant chirp told her that the +yellow-bird's mate was near. She soon hopped into sight, and, welcoming +Minnie in her kind way, told that she had an invitation from no less a +person than his majesty, the owl. + +The party was made especially for Minnie; so she could not refuse, +although it was to be held at midnight. Yellow-bird would go with her. + +"And you, too?" Minnie asked. + +"Excuse me, dear, this time. I feel obliged to stay at home." + +"So do I, then." + +"Ah, I will tell you a secret. I have in my nest some of the prettiest +little eggs you ever saw. If I should leave them they might be chilled +with the night-air; so never mind me, Minnie, but go and have the +pleasantest time you can." + +"To tell another secret, then," Minnie answered, "my dress is not only +worn to rags, but so soiled that I am ashamed of it, and cannot think of +going into company. See what a plight!" And she held up the skirt that +was torn into strips like ribbon. + +"Is that all? I watched to-day while a cruel boy was shooting in the +wood. He fired at a poor little humming-bird, and broke its wing. It +fluttered down among the bushes, and lies there now, I suppose, for I +took care to call the boy away." + +"How?" + +"O, we understand. I cried out as if he had also wounded me; and, when +he began to search, went slyly round into another place, and cried +again. So I led the boy on, till I felt pretty sure he could not find +his game if he went back." + +"But why did you take so much pains?" + +"Partly so that he should not carry the pretty little creature home, and +send half the boys in town out here, next day, hunting humming-birds, +and partly because I thought the feathers would make you such a warm, +handsome cloak. Fly with me, now, and we'll find it; for here comes my +mate, to take his turn in staying with the nest." + +They quickly reached the bush, under which humming-bird lay dead; but +how heavy he was! It was as much as ever Minnie could do to lift him +from the ground. + +While they stood over him, wondering what was next to be done, Master +Squirrel frisked in sight, rolling before him a large, round +turtle-shell. + +"Stand out of the way!" he shouted. But Minnie stood across his path, +and, for fear of throwing her down, he stopped; and, leaning on his +shell, not very good-naturedly asked what she wanted. + +"O, squirrel, do leave your play a little while, and help us!" she said. +"We have this heavy bird to carry home, and skin, and make the skin into +a cloak, while the daylight lasts; do be kind, now, and help us!" + +"It isn't my way to be kind; but I'll make a bargain with you." + +"Well." + +"Yellow-bird shall fix a harness out of straw, fasten you into my shell +for a horse, and I will drive home with your load." + +"That's a good plan," said Minnie, not waiting to think how squirrel +had kept the best of the bargain for his own share. "What say you, +yellow-bird?" + +"Poor little woman! after such a long journey you are too tired to drag +this great fellow home. I will do it myself." + +"Then I will help you twist the ropes." + +To work they went, and soon had the harness finished. Squirrel, +meantime, selected a good long twig for a whip, laid the humming-bird +across the shell, and leaped into his place. + +He could hardly wait for the harnessing to be ended; but Minnie made him +stay until he had promised only to snap his whip in the air, not use it +on yellow-bird, and they darted on. + + + + +CHAPTER XVII. + +THE MOONLIGHT DANCE. + + +Minnie tripped behind, watching the little team. She had grown so nimble +that she could keep nearer than squirrel thought. + +When he supposed he was out of sight from her, he lifted his whip, and +gave yellow-bird a smart stroke across his shoulders. + +But she knew how to punish him;--spreading her wings at once, she rose +into the air, and made the deceitful squirrel roll out of his chariot. + +He was ashamed to see Minnie after this, so limped away, whining that he +had broken his paw, and would tell his mother. + +Then yellow-bird sung one of her droll little songs, that were like +twenty laughs shaken together, and, when Minnie came, begged her to +take the squirrel's place, and drive home. + +The little woman was too thoughtful of her kind friend for that. She +went behind and pushed, while yellow-bird dragged the shell, and they +soon had it safe beneath the elm. + +Then they slipped off the humming-bird's skin in a trice, hung it a +while on the sunny side of the elm to dry, and Minnie's good friend +pulled out from among the twigs of the nest that dear piece of her +mother's dress, and gave it to her for a lining. + +You never saw a prettier and more fairy-like little garment than this +when it was finished; the tiny feathers all lay together so evenly, and +whenever the wearer moved they took such brilliant hues! Now the cloak +was red, now brown, now green and gold, and again it glittered with all +these colors at once. + +Minnie had always seemed like a bird, with her quick, light, flying +ways, and more than ever she seemed one now, with her gay feather cloak, +and the fluttering, sailing motions she had caught from yellow-bird. + +Mrs. Yellow-bird, having put the last stitch in Minnie's cloak, fastened +it about her neck, and looked at her guest with great satisfaction. +Then, at a chirp, her mate came, and readily consented to be Minnie's +escort; so away they flew together. + +The evening was mild, and clear moonlight filled the wood. Owl had +chosen a lovely green dell in which to meet his friends, and had fitted +it up with taste, and no little pains. All among the bushes and lower +boughs of the trees he had tied live fire-flies and bright green +beetles. He had built for the dance a tent of bark, and had sanded the +floor with a curious dust that is found in the wood countries, and is +like pale coals of fire. + +The birds dared not step on this fiery carpet at first, for fear of +singeing their feet; but owl assured them that it had no warmth. As for +the fire-fly lanterns, it must be confessed that the birds' mouths +watered in passing them, but they were too civil to eat up their host's +decorations. + +There was an orchestra of crickets, and they played such merry tunes +that the guests all danced and waltzed till they were tired, and then +it was supper-time. + +Alas! owl had not been so thoughtful as the squirrels, and had only +furnished such food as he liked himself. You may judge the surprise and +disgust of the company, when, to the music of the band, they were +marched in front of a heap of dead mice! + +The owl began to eat at once, and begged his guests not to be diffident. +Not one of them tasted a morsel, however. Some politely refused, some +went home angry, and a few had the courage to own that they were not +fond of mouse-flesh. + +Thus owl's party ended, and, indeed, all his parties, for, the next time +he sent out invitations, every bird in the wood respectfully declined. + +If we think of no one but ourselves, we shall soon be left to ourselves. + + + + +CHAPTER XVIII. + +THE LITTLE NURSES. + + +Minnie almost fell asleep on her way back to the elm, and found it hard +to keep up with yellow-bird, who flew on briskly as ever. + +Her long morning journey, the labor and hurry of making her cloak, as +well as the effort to bring the humming-bird home, and the party +afterwards, the dancing and late hours, tired her so much--so much that +she feared all the rest in the world would not make her strong again. + +And when the tree was reached, Minnie's friends did not, as usual, offer +her their nest. They must keep it now for the eggs. Cold and weary as +she was, the little girl must lie down among damp leaves, with no other +bed than a mossy place which she found on the rough bark of the elm. + +In the morning she still felt tired, lame, and stiff, yet her spirits +came back with the sunshine, and when she told yellow-bird she had not +strength enough to fly away with him, he stayed and sung to her a while, +and afterwards brought her delicious berries from the wood, all sweet +and ripe, and cool with dew. + +With such an attentive friend to supply her wants, it was not very hard +to sit quietly upon her couch of moss, so green and velvety, with +sunshine all about her on the leaves, and the pleasant prospect below. + +You will remember that the tree was full of inhabitants, and our Minnie +had made friends with almost all of them. When well and active, she had +never passed them without a pleasant word, or at least a nod of welcome; +and, now that she was sick, they were most happy to sit and talk with +her, or offer their assistance. + +They brought her presents, each in his kind. The bee came up from among +the clover-blossoms, to place clear drops of honey on the leaf beside +his little friend. The silent ant stopped a moment to tell the news, and +presented a morsel of sugar which she had hoarded in her nest till it +was brown with age. Indigo-bird brought a berry, blue as his wings. Some +of the birds brought good fat angle-worms or snails, which would be +dainty morsels to them. These Minnie laid aside for her friend Mr. +Yellow-bird, although she thanked the givers politely, as if what they +brought were her own favorite food. + +This was not deceitful, because what Minnie enjoyed was the thoughtful +kindness of her friends, and not their gifts. The berries were sweet, to +be sure, but their friendship was sweeter. + +Master Squirrel came among the rest. He and a spider of his +acquaintance had made Minnie a beautiful parasol, with the +humming-bird's bill for a handle, and a wild rose for the top. + +The pink cup of this flower, turned downward as it was, cast such a glow +upon Minnie's pale face, that Master Squirrel thought he had never +before seen her look so handsome. + +Soon, tired of listening to his coarse compliments, the little girl +asked what else it was that he kept so nicely covered in his hands. + +"O, that's my mother's offering!" he replied. "How the old woman would +have scolded if I had forgotten to give it to you!" + +"Pray, let me have it. How kind your mother always is!" + +"Except when her nest is too clean, eh? Well, she saw me working over +the humming-bird's carcass, and thought, as the meat was fresh, perhaps +you'd like a scrap cooked for your dinner." + +"Cooked meat! O, I haven't tasted a morsel since I left my father's +house!" said Minnie, in delight. "Where could your mother have found the +fire, though?" + +"Not far off the woods are burning,--took fire in the dry season, as +they often do,--and there were plenty of coals; so madam cut off the +humming-bird's wing, and broiled it--O, my!--till it smells so nice that +it made my mouth water to bring it to you!" + +He lifted the cover, and there, on a green leaf, lay the dainty wing, +all crisp and smoking now. Minnie relished her dinner more than words +can tell. + + + + +CHAPTER XIX. + +MOUSE. + + +Before Minnie was strong again, yellow-bird's eggs hatched, and both he +and his mate were busy and anxious, all the time, with taking care of +their nest full of little ones. She did not see her friends so often as +formerly, and, when they came, their visits were hurried and short. + +And, one by one, her other acquaintances grew forgetful, for birds and +insects don't have such good memories as we, you know. Each was occupied +with his own cares and amusements. Perhaps the truth was that they had +grown tired of Minnie, as you grow tired, in time, of your prettiest +playthings. + +She felt all these changes. She remembered sadly what Master Squirrel +had said, that his mother thought company a great deal of trouble, and +herself, though a cunning body, of no use to any one. + +What if yellow-bird and his mate should begin to feel the same? She +determined not to stay and trouble them any longer, after they both had +been so kind; but where in the great world could she go for a home? Who +would feed, and comfort, and love her? Ah! how sadly she remembered the +dear mother who had made it all her care to watch over and supply her +children's wants! + +Every creature in the wood had a home and friends, except herself! And +yet none of these homes were so pleasant, none of these friends so sweet +and loving, as the ones she had foolishly thrown away. + +"Ah!" thought Minnie, as in the dusky twilight she lay swinging on a +lonely bough of the elm, "Ah! if I could whisper loud enough for every +little boy and girl on earth to hear, I'd say, 'Be happy in your own +home, with your own friends; for there are no others like them--none, +none, none!'" + +Though these sad feelings were weighing on the heart, the rocking of +the bough and sighing of the evening wind among the leaves lulled Minnie +soon asleep. + +She awoke in a terrible storm. She was drenched with rain, which pelted +like pebbles, in sharp, quick drops, beating the leaves, while the wind +dashed the boughs together, and made Minnie fear that, though clinging +with all her strength to the branch, she must fall. + +And she did fall into the wet grass far below, and was stunned, perhaps, +for she did not awake until morning. + +Then the sun shone brightly once more, the elm above her glittered with +sparkling drops, and the first sound which Minnie heard was +yellow-bird's song of joy that his little ones were safe after all the +wind and rain. + +"He has forgotten me, or he would not be so glad!" she whispered to +herself. Then came the thought, "Perhaps he is happier because I am +swept away out of his sight!" and with this she began to cry. + +"What's the matter?" asked a little mouse, that was running about in the +grass, picking up worms and flies which had perished in the rain. +"What's the matter? Have my proud cousins, the squirrels, been treating +you badly again?" + +"No, they all do more for me than I can do for them; but, dear little +mouse, I've stayed in the woods too long. Every one is tired of me. +Couldn't you show me the way back to my mother's house?" + +"Why, Minnie, _I_ am not tired of you. Pray, don't go home yet. Come and +make me a visit in my snug little hole, so quiet underground. No storms +reach there. I shall not whisk you about as squirrel has done; nor take +you long, weary journeys through the air, like yellow-bird. I'll bring +you cheese, and meal, and melon-seeds, till you grow rosy as your little +sister Alice." + +"My sister! What can you know about her, pray?" + +"Wasn't I at your house this morning? I have, not far from this very +wood, a passage-way underground that leads into your mother's pantry. +Come to my nest, and you'll hear news from home." + + + + +CHAPTER XX. + +HOUSEKEEPING. + + +Minnie gladly followed the mouse into his hole. To see some one who had +been in her dear lost home, was almost as good as to feel her mother's +gentle hand laid on her head once more. + +In the promised news she was disappointed! Alas! the mouse disappointed +her in many things. Minnie had not lived with him long before she found +that she had fallen into bad company. + +He was good-natured and hospitable in his way, but a sad thief, and his +word could never be depended upon. The little girl even felt afraid of +her own safety, when she saw what pleasure mouse took in betraying all +who trusted in him. + +The first time she fell asleep, the mischievous fellow nibbled off what +rags were left of her gown, to make a bed for his young. Minnie feared +that next he might pick out her eyes for their luncheon, and determined +to leave him before it should be too late. + +But it seemed as if the sly mouse saw into her mind, for, as she was +composing her farewell speech, he came running out in the grass where +she had seated herself, and said, in his squeaking voice, "Minnie, will +you do me a great favor?" + +"I shall be glad to do anything in my power," was the reply. + +"Well, you didn't seem satisfied with the news I brought from home, and +so I have resolved to go and try if I cannot pick up some more." + +"I suppose you won't pick up any of my mother's cheese and pie-crust?" +said Minnie, laughing. + +"Of course not; at least, not more than enough to pay for my trouble in +going. And now, Minnie dear, I want you to take care of my little ones +while I'm gone,--to feed them, and see that they don't roll out of their +nest." + +"That I will do very willingly." + +Mouse scampered away, and Minnie little thought how long it would be +before she should see him again. + +The nest was narrower, deeper, and darker, than squirrel's, and quite as +close and disorderly. It was hard for Minnie to crowd herself through +the entrance; but, once within, she found paths winding in every +direction, some of them ending in little chambers. Part of these rooms +were store-houses of grain, cheese, and all manner of rubbish, which +mouse must have stolen for the pleasure of stealing, Minnie thought, it +was so wholly useless. The other rooms had each its brood of little +mice, of all sizes and ages, some almost as large as the mother, some +not much larger than a fly. + +It took the whole afternoon to wander from one room to another, +explaining where the mother had gone, comforting those that began to +fret, feeding the hungry, quieting the quarrelsome. Glad enough was +Minnie when she had tucked up the last brood in their bed of wool, and +could creep out into the grass for a breath of air and a look at the +pleasant sky. + +Shaking the earth from her cloak of humming-bird feathers, and picking a +handful of checkerberries, Minnie looked about for a stone to sit upon +while she ate her supper. + +She soon found one, smooth as any pebble in the brook. Here she could +eat at her leisure, while a band of crickets and katydids played to her, +and all the beautiful stars twinkled over her head, and all the grass +about her was strung with glistening drops of dew. + +"After all," she thought, "this is more to my taste than being shut up +in my curtained bed at home. What's the use in stars and dew, if we +never look at them? What use is there in the evening breeze, if we shut +it out with our windows? It's a good thing to have our own way, and I +may yet be glad that I left my father's house." + + + + +CHAPTER XXI. + +TROUBLE FOR MINNIE. + + +As Minnie sat meditating, suddenly the grass about her seemed to move. +The long blades bent this way and that, and shook their dew-drops over +her. + +What could this mean? Had the grass feet? Could it draw its roots up out +of the ground and walk? + +Why, _she_ was moving! The grass behind lay bowed together in her +pathway, and here she was, seated close under an evening primrose, which +opened its yellow blossoms so far from the mouse-nest that she had only +felt their fragrance when the wind blew. + +Presently something like the head of a great snake was stretched out +from under her seat. Minnie sprang up at once, and, climbing into the +primrose branches, wondered if she were awake or asleep, that such +strange things should happen. + +Then the snake's head disappeared, and a low voice spoke from under the +stone, "Why do you leave me? I live in a pleasanter place than the +mouse, and am myself more honest and agreeable. Will not the little +woman make me a visit?" + +"Why, what's your name, and where did you come from? and are you a +stone, or something alive? and is that snake's head a part of you?" said +Minnie, half frightened, and half amused. + +"What you are so polite as to call a snake's head is my own, and what +you call a stone is my shell, and I am a turtle, Miss Minnie," the voice +answered, with dignity. + +"Pray, don't be angry with me, turtle; I meant no harm. Now the +moonlight has come, I can see the beautiful golden stars on your back; +and, now my fright is over, I remember what a pleasant ride you took me +through the grass." + +"You shall have as many such rides as you want, if only you'll come and +stay with me by the side of the brook." + +Here was the very opportunity Minnie had wished, to find a safer home; +but she could not forget her promise to the mouse, and leave the little +ones to suffer. + +When she told turtle this, he said that she was perfectly right, and, +creeping back with his load to the entrance of the nest, and finding the +mouse was still away, he left Minnie, promising that by sunrise in the +morning he would return for her. + +Accustomed as she had long been to the shelter of the elm-leaves, the +dampness rising from the ground made Minnie sneeze so violently that the +crickets stopped playing to listen. She was glad to go, at last, inside +of the nest, and sleep in one of the close little rubbish-rooms. + +At daylight she was awakened by a small brown beetle running up and down +her arm. Rubbing her eyes, she asked, rather sharply, why he could not +let her sleep in peace. + +"The turtle wants to know why you don't keep your promises. He has been +waiting this half hour, and sends word that it is a shame for you to +sleep away the beautiful morning hours." + +Minnie sprang to her feet at once, and was following the beetle, when +squeak, squeak! ho, hallo! wait a minute, Minnie! came from every room +she attempted to pass. + +She found that mouse had not kept her promise of coming home, and, +sending a message to the turtle, she was obliged to wait and hear a +hundred questions and complaints, and settle a hundred disputes between +the quarrelsome young ones. + +One had pushed the other out of bed; one had trodden on the other's +tail; one tickled the other so that he could not sleep; one snored so +loud it made another nervous; one had eaten up the other's grain. + +As Minnie crept about in this dark, disagreeable place, so full of angry +voices, she remembered that lost home of hers, where all was peace and +love. She remembered dear Franky, with his rosy cheeks and curly +hair,--the good, generous little fellow that he was; and baby Alice, +with her large brown eyes; and the kind parents who never went away and +forgot _their_ little ones. + +Then she rummaged the store-rooms for food; and, not finding enough to +satisfy the greedy mice, crept out into the air to see if she could not +pick up something for their breakfast. + +She saw no turtle. The grass was bent still with his foot-tracks, but he +was gone. So Minnie went busily to work picking off seeds and berries, +and the honeyed end of clover-blossoms, till she had such a heap that it +seemed to her she could never carry it all into the nest. + +Then thinking, "Perhaps, if I set the mice at work, it will stop their +quarrelling," she called out several of the elder broods. + + + + +CHAPTER XXII. + +TROUBLE STILL. + + +The young mice seemed obedient to Minnie until they had reached the +entrance of the nest; but, at the first taste of fresh air, they began +to frisk about, and do whatever they chose. + +First they attacked her heap of food, and ate all the choicest bits +which she had saved for the little ones. Then off they ran, this, that, +and every way, Minnie calling after them in vain. + +She went in search of the runaways, but they hid safely under the leaves +and grass, or burrowed into the ground. Tired and discouraged, the poor +girl turned back to collect what food was left, and give it to the +little ones. + +And still the old mouse did not come home. Minnie wondered if she had +gone on purpose to be rid of her family, and if she must herself have +the care of bringing up this great brood of noisy, troublesome mice. + +Why not let them starve? If they grew up, it would only be to cheat and +steal, like their mother, and run away with people's meal and cheese. + +Ah! but Minnie had promised. And, besides, the old mouse had been kind +in her way, and had offered Minnie a home when other friends forsook +her. No, she would not desert the little ones. + +All at once she remembered a trap that used to stand in her mother's +pantry; suppose the mouse was caught in it! She would go this instant, +and see. + +Now the underground pathway was very, very narrow, and so close and warm +that three times Minnie gave up her attempt, and as many times went +back; for, when she thought that the friend who had fed her might be +starving, it was enough to drive away all other thoughts. + +Still, not being a mouse, she could not breathe in that close +cellar-way. Her strength all left her. The little heart, that had beat +so fast when she thought of going home, home, only fluttered faintly +now. She began to feel that she could not even creep back to the +mouse-nest; that this dark passage was to be her grave. + +But one step forward brought Minnie into a good-sized room, and what was +her surprise to find this the nest of the father-mouse! + +He didn't like the noise and trouble of children, he said, and so kept +away from the sound of their voices. He hoped his mate was well, and was +just on the point of going to see what had become of her. + +When Minnie told her fears, he uttered a frightened squeak, and said he +was sure she must be right, and that he was a poor, lonesome widower, +and should never see his dear, dear wife again. + +Minnie cheered him by telling that her mother's trap was not one of the +cruel ones with teeth, but only a box with wires, in which his wife +might live safely for several days. Then she explained how with his +teeth and paws he could open the door and set her free. + +Away flew the mouse, first showing his friend a nearer and easier +pathway out into the air. + +Minnie now began to consider how displeased the mother-mouse would be, +on returning, to find her children scattered in all directions. If she +could but call them together, and see them safe in the nest once more, +bid the old mice good-by, and ride off quietly herself on the turtle's +back, how happy she would be! + +She climbed the tall evening primrose, and looked on every side, but not +a sign of a mouse. She leaped into the grass again, and, with the stick +of her parasol, stirred every tuft of clover and bunch of violet or +plantain leaves. In vain. + +Minnie had made up her mind that they were lost, drowned in the brook, +or eaten by some bird of prey, when she caught sight of one, with his +bright eyes and sharp little nose peeping up from under a toadstool. + +Then she knew that all the rest must be near, and, jumping on top of the +toadstool, she said, + +"You mischievous fellows, I dare say you are all laughing at me in your +hiding-places; but hear this! your mother is dead, perhaps, and as sure +as you stay out of your nest at night, some mischief will come to you. +I shall waste no more time in this search." + +Wasn't it ungrateful in the mice to disobey Minnie, when she had taken +so much trouble for their sakes? And yet I have known children whose +parents took as much pains for their sake, and who were as thoughtless +and disobedient as Minnie's mice. + + + + +CHAPTER XXIII. + +FREE AT LAST. + + +When Minnie returned to the nest, whom should she meet but mouse in the +midst of her little ones? + +The mate was there also. He had come partly to help home his wife,--who +had lamed her foot in the trap,--and partly to boast of his wonderful +courage and ingenuity in setting her free. + +Both were very profuse in their thanks to Minnie; for the young mice had +already told of her kindness and care. Minnie interrupted their thanks +to ask the news from home. + +This, mouse had half forgotten in her flight. She only remembered how, +after the trap shut down upon her, the pantry-door had opened, and a +lady came in. + +"Tell me exactly how she looked," said Minnie. + +"She wore a gown of pink muslin, and pink ribbons in her hair." + +"O, that was my own mother! How I wish I had been in your place!" + +"I wished so too. When she lifted her hand and took down a jar of +sweetmeats, that stood close by the trap, I felt sure she'd see me, and +have me killed. O, how I trembled! It was as much as ever I could do to +keep from squeaking when I thought of my mate, and all the little ones." + +"Was my mother alone?" + +"No; a little boy came with her, and watched while she took the +sweetmeats out into a dish. Before closing the jar, I saw her give him a +taste of the delicious pine-apple." + +"How did you know it was pine-apple?" + +"O, after my mate had set me free, we waited to lap up a few drops that +trickled down the side of the jar. We know the taste of good things! Was +that boy your brother?" + +"No; it was dear Franky, my playfellow, who lives at the other side of +the fence. Didn't he say anything?" + +"He asked the lady if she supposed Minnie was where she could have nice +pine-apple for tea. I couldn't hear the answer, for they both left the +pantry then." + +"My generous Franky! He always thought more of others than himself." + +"Don't cry, dear, and I'll call you my generous Minnie. Think! if you +had not been so kind, all our little ones might have starved." + +"Yes; and my own wife might have dried up into a skeleton in that +dreadful trap!" said the father-mouse. "How glad we are that we have +such a kind friend to live with us always!" + +Alas, it was hard for Minnie now to tell that she meant to leave their +nest! But, hearing the slow steps of turtle brush through the grass +above, she thanked the mice for their good-will, and hurried out into +the sunshine, to meet her new and faithful friend. + +As for the mice, they were so taken by surprise, that at first they +could only look after her, without saying a word. But, before she had +reached the brook, Minnie heard a squeaking and scrambling underground; +and, from a little opening, which she had not seen before, up darted +mouse and her mate, trembling with anger, and talking so noisily, both +at once, that she could not make out what either said. + +Meantime turtle, who had little respect for mice, kept on at his steady, +slow pace, through the grass. As Minnie was mounted on his back, the +mice were obliged to travel also, in order that she might hear their +complaints and reproaches. + +For they had forgotten all about gratitude, now, and could only grieve +over the missing broods of young. + +As soon as Minnie discovered this, she begged turtle to wait a moment, +that she might tell her side of the tale; but on he jogged, and, when +the mice would not be still, snapped at them so fiercely with his snaky +head, that they both scampered home in fright. + +They had not grieved for naught. Four of the truants had drowned +themselves in attempting to cross the brook; two had been eaten by a +crow; and the rest were snapped up at a mouthful, by a spaniel, that +happened to run through the field. + + + + +CHAPTER XXIV. + +TURTLE. + + +You remember Minnie was a restless little soul; and will not be +surprised to learn that she had not lived with the turtle long before +his slow ways tired her. + +He was stubborn and disobliging, too. If he started for a place, she +couldn't make him turn one inch aside; but on, on, on he crept at the +same slow pace,--no matter whether Minnie were wet, and half-frozen with +rain, or parched with sunshine,--on, on, till he reached his goal. + +Still he was always quiet and dignified, had no quarrels with his +neighbors, and seemed to treat his little guest as well as he knew how. + +It is true he surprised her in disagreeable ways sometimes. If he saw a +pool of deep mud by the road-side he would wallow through it, sadly +soiling Minnie's fine cloak of humming-bird feathers. She knew he was +partial to mud, and would not have blamed him so much had this excursion +been all; but, instead of going back to the grass, where she might wipe +herself clean, he would mount some slanting log that rose out of the +water, and stand there sunning himself for hours. + +One day, a gentleman, who was driving past in a chaise, saw Minnie and +the turtle perched thus on a log, and stopped to examine the curious +object. + +Turtle drew his head inside of his shell at once, and left poor Minnie +to her fate. + +Now it happened that the traveller was a great naturalist, and +especially fond of collecting turtles. He had hundreds of them, snapping +at each other, and scrambling over each others' backs, in his yard at +home. + +Still he was always on the watch for a new specimen; and here was a +famous one, he thought. Springing from his chaise, the gentleman ran to +the other side of the brook, and was walking cautiously toward them, +when turtle thought it time to look out for his own safety. So, dropping +from the log, he disappeared in the thick, muddy bottom of the brook. + +The naturalist went back, disappointed, to his chaise. Minnie, in +passing, caught at some iris-leaves, and clung to them. As soon as she +could wipe the water from her mouth, she called out, "Allow me to bid +you good-by, Mr. Turtle. I think I can take as good care of myself as +you've taken of me thus far, and henceforth I will save you the +trouble." + +"What's that? I'm rather thick of hearing," said turtle, from under the +mud. + +"Good-by, that's all!" And, by the time he had reached the end of his +log once more, Minnie was floating down the brook on a pond-lily leaf, +diving every now and then to cleanse herself from the mud which turtle +had dragged her through. + +"Why shouldn't I live by myself? Where's the use in giving others so +much trouble?" she said now. "Why cannot I play with the flowers and +butterflies, run races with the ripples, and bright little fishes, in +the brook; or sleep on any bank of moss, or in any empty bird's nest +that I can find? At least, let me try; and, if I grow hungry or +lonesome, there are enough good people to take me in." + + + + +CHAPTER XXV. + +MINNIE'S WINGS. + + +Now came the most beautiful and happiest part of Minnie's wandering +life. So nimble was she, and ready for sport, and so droll, and withal +so gentle and ready to oblige, that she made friends on every side. +Wherever she went you'd be sure to find a flock of butterflies, or bees, +or birds, about her. + +They taught her all the pretty sports which they had practised among +themselves; once more she flew across the meadows with the birds, fed on +the fresh, clear honey of the bee, and played hide-and-seek with +butterflies. + +Sometimes the butterflies lifted her far up into the air. How do you +suppose they contrived to do it, with their slender wings, which even +the wind could break? + +Minnie told them that, in her father's house stood a statue, with wings +on the wrists and feet. This was Mercury, whom the Greeks in old times +worshipped as one of their many gods. + +Now, she thought the butterflies might make a little Mercury of her. No +sooner had she said as much than a beautiful pair, spreading wings large +enough for sails to her lily-leaf boat, floated through the sunshine to +settle upon the little woman's shoulders. Then followed smaller ones, +with blue, white, and yellow wings; and, fastening themselves to her +ankles and wrists, up, up, they all flew together! + +But the next day Minnie found her little friends creeping about with +their wings sadly sprained. So she would not often let them repeat this +experiment. + +O, I should have to write a larger book than this to tell you what good +times Minnie had with the butterflies; into what pleasant places they +were always leading her; how gentle and playful they were, and how their +wings were perfumed with the flowers they had lived among. + +She loved to have them follow her when she walked, especially that +little golden kind you have often seen in the meadows. Some followed, +some fluttered on before, as if she were a little queen, and they her +body-guard. + +There were no angry voices now, no envious neighbors; no Master Squirrel +came to repeat disagreeable stories. Instead of that stifled +squirrel-hole in the elm, she had the sweet air of heaven about her now. +Instead of that crowded yellow-bird's nest, where Minnie had felt in the +way, she had now the wide meadow, with room enough in its soft, green +lining, for herself and all her friends. + +But, alas! Minnie was the one, this time, to cause trouble and +discontent. Only to gratify her wilful temper, she did what she would +have given half the world to undo afterwards. It was a little +thing,--you would hardly call it wicked; and yet it grieved and drove +away her gentle friends, and would have cost her own life, but for an +accident. These _little things_ make half the mischief in the world. + + + + +CHAPTER XXVI. + +HIDE-AND-SEEK. + + +One afternoon, tired of playing in the hot sun, Minnie thought she would +creep under some shady cluster of leaves, and sleep. + +But the butterflies could never have play enough, and the hotter the +sunshine, the better for them. So they did not understand that the +little girl needed rest, and, thinking her weariness only make-believe, +would not give her any peace. + +They ran across her hands, they tickled her cheeks with their feathery +feelers, they pelted her with buttercups, and at last began to cover her +over with leaves of the wild rose. So full of mischief were they, that +one could no more sleep, while they were about, than if they'd been so +many bees. + +At first Minnie tried to be good-natured, and laugh at their pranks; +but, warm and tired as she was, you cannot wonder that her patience +didn't last. + +Some children would have roughly driven the butterflies away--have +pelted them with stones, perhaps, and broken their beautiful wings. But +Minnie could not forget how kind they had been; and besides, you know, +they were not such little things to her as they seem to us; they were +almost as large as herself. + +She only arose, and, turning her back, would not speak to them, or spoke +in such a snappish manner that the butterflies were frightened, and flew +away. + +Left alone, she espied, near the wood, something that looked like a +side-saddle, just large enough for a little body like herself. She +sprang to see if there were a tiny horse to fit, and thought how quickly +he should gallop off with her, so far that the butterflies could not +follow--no, not if they wore their wings off! + +But the saddle proved only to be a flower, so much like a wadded leather +cushion, that Minnie took her seat upon it, and was swaying back and +forth with its tall, stiff stem, when she noticed that it was surrounded +by a row of leaves more curious, even, than the flower. + +Each leaf was like a little pitcher, with such great ears that Minnie +wondered if it were not the very kind she had heard her mother talk +about, when she was whispering secrets. There they stood, like the forty +jars in which Ali-Baba caught the forty thieves, in the Arabian Nights. + +"Here's a place to hide!" She had hardly said it, when the butterflies +came in sight, and Minnie slipped into the tallest pitcher, unseen by +them, she thought. + +But no--they found her; and now was Minnie's time to laugh. Fold their +wide wings together, crumple them as they might, not one of the +butterflies could crowd himself through the narrow neck of the pitcher. +They could only stand and look down wistfully at the roguish face +within. + +"I'm glad to see you! shake hands!" said Minnie, shaking their slender +wrists till they begged her to be still. + +"Ah! Minnie, not so rough! Come, now, don't be cross any longer. Come +out and play with us!" + +"Don't you wish I would? Don't you wish you could catch me?" was all the +answer she made. + +"But we've found a bee that a bird killed, and we saved the honey-bag +for you." + +In vain they urged. Minnie was very stubborn. She laughed at the +butterflies, and teased them, until they were offended, and, one by one, +flew back to the brook. + +And, now that she had leisure to look about, the little girl found +herself in an uncomfortable place. Not only was the pitcher half full of +water, but so narrow that she could hardly move, and lined with stiff +hairs, that seemed like thorns to tiny hands like hers. She would not +stay here. + +But how to escape was the question! She only climbed the sides to slip +back again; her arms were scratched till they bled; her garments were +heavy with the water in which they drabbled. Night was coming down; she +could hear the crickets sing; she caught glimpses of birds flying home +to their nests; yet all were so noisy or so busy that they could not +hear her voice. + +How she wished, now, that her rudeness had not driven the butterflies +away! But it was too late for such wishes; they had gone. + + + + +CHAPTER XXVII. + +MINNIE IN PRISON. + + +Minnie thought the night would never end. She watched the stars that +moved so slowly overhead; she watched the moonlight slant into the wood, +and the pale flowers fill with dew. She heard the night wind creep among +the leaves; and her old friend the owl, and other wild creatures that +hide by day, she heard prowling about in the dark. + +Sometimes there would be a quick cry, or a patter of light little feet, +or the dull hoot of the owl; and then all was still again, and Minnie +gazed once more to see how far the stars had moved. O, it was such a +little way, and they had so far to go before the sun would shine again! + +At last she fell asleep from very weariness, and awoke to find a faint +red light above the eastern hills. It was morning--morning! Another hour +would see the sun rise, and bring some friend, perhaps, to help her away +from her prison. + +When some kind friend awakens you at sunrise on a summer morning, and, +feeling drowsy, you long to turn and sleep again, and wish daylight +would never come, you must suppose that you were in Minnie's place, and +see then if you do not find it easier to spring from your beds. Because +the sunshine comes to us so freely, we must not forget how precious and +beautiful it is. + +Suppose the darkness, instead of lasting for one night, should last +whole months, as it does at the far north. What a damp, dismal world it +would be! How we should grope from place to place, and, sitting in our +houses by the flicker of poor lamps, how we should long for the +sunshine--for the beaming, generous light and pleasant warmth that +spread now over all the land! + +The birds began to rustle among the boughs, or, half asleep still, sing +short dreamy songs upon their nests; but Minnie could not make them +hear her little voice, and had resolved to call no more, but drown or +starve, if she must, when a humming-bird came wheeling and buzzing by. + +He was such a noisy fellow himself, that, like the rest, he might have +passed on without noticing Minnie's cry, but he paused to drink at the +pitcher, where he knew that water was hid; and what was his surprise to +find an old acquaintance there! + +Minnie was always ready for a joke; so she popped up her head like the +little men you have seen shut into boxes, that, when the cover is +lifted, start up and frighten you. + +She knew very well that if humming-bird flew away at first, his +curiosity would lead him back again. She laughed to see how quickly he +flitted into the wood, and then how cautiously he came forth, and, from +bough to bough and plant to plant, made his way to her side once more. + +Then Minnie's face grew serious, as she told her little friend how much +she had suffered and feared through the long, long night, and begged +that he would help her to escape. He was not half strong enough to lift +her, though he tried till his bill ached with dragging at her tangled +hair. + +And this work, if hard to him, was not, as you may judge, the most +agreeable to Minnie. She persuaded the humming-bird to leave her for a +while, and see if he could not find help, or, at least, find something +for her to eat. + +It happened that, in seeking food for Minnie, the bird found something +of which he was especially fond himself; so, after eating his fill, he +went humming across the meadow, never thinking again of the friend he +had promised to help. + +Very impatiently the little girl expected him every moment, until an +hour had passed, and still she waited, hungry and alone. + +Then came a great flapping of wings overhead, and a rustling such as she +had once heard when a hawk flew into her father's poultry-yard. He had +eaten the white chicken that she called her own, and it was as large as +she was now. Suppose he should eat her! + +The rush of wings came nearer, and the bird, whatever his name might +be, alighted close beside Minnie, who ventured to peep over the edge of +her pitcher, and beheld a curious, tall, awkward creature, such as she +had never seen before in her life. + +She coughed to attract his attention, and he turned toward her a bill as +long as her own arm was once, and began to stalk about on legs longer, +even, than his bill, and that looked like a pair of stilts. + + + + +CHAPTER XXVIII. + +NARROW ESCAPES. + + +"It's a pleasant morning for a walk," Minnie ventured to say. + +Her visitor answered with a croak so rough that she couldn't tell +whether he agreed with her or not. But, taking a long step, the stork +came nearer, and looked directly down into Minnie's prison, and upon the +little, tired, mournful, frightened face. + +"Pray, don't hurt me! I have lost my way, and fallen into this dreadful +place." + +"Why do you stay here, if it is not pleasant?" + +"O, I cannot climb out, I'm so small; and the sides are so slippery, and +all these thorns so rough!" + +Then, without waiting to be asked, the stork broke the leaf-stem, and, +turning it upside down, shook Minnie out into the grass. + +It was so good to stretch herself in the pleasant sunshine, that Minnie +folded her hands, and lay there quietly as if she was asleep, or dead. + +The stork travelled around her on his stilts, and Minnie heard him say, +"In all my flying, I never came across such an odd little creature +before; it looks like a woman, yet isn't larger than a bird. Its +feathers are like a humming-bird's, and yet they are pretty well worn +out. I wonder how it happens!" + +With this he began to poke and pull at her cloak; finally, off it came, +and stork held it up in the sun for examination. Then he eyed the little +silk apron her mother had made, and twitched it by one corner, till +Minnie began to think he would eat her piece by piece. + +So, the first time he turned his head away, she sprang to her feet, and, +without once looking behind, ran, leaped the fences and the fallen +boughs, and, reaching her home by the brook-side, hid under the shadow +of a stone. + +And high above her, she watched the stork beating the air with his +heavy wings, and sailing on out of sight. + +After eating some savory roots, which the mouse had taught her how to +find, and taking a berry or two for dessert, Minnie jumped into the +brook, which looked warm and tempting as it rippled through the +sunshine. + +She could swim as swiftly as any fish, and was so very fond of the sport +that she soon forgot her weariness. Laughing and shouting, she started +in chase of a swarm of little minnows, whose silvery sides shone like +moonbeams when they darted across the brook. + +Minnie kept gaining ground, and thought, at last, that she could lay her +hand upon the minnows, crowded all together as they swam; but, lo! at +the first touch, like so many bubbles of quicksilver, they scattered far +and wide. Some shot before her, some dodged behind her back, some hid +their silly noses under stones and weeds, thinking, if only their eyes +were out of sight, that nobody else could see them. + +Of these last, Minnie caught several; but they slipped through her +fingers again before she could be certain that she had them there. She +might as well have tried to hold one of the ripples of the brook. + +Now that the butterflies had forsaken her, Minnie found it lonely in the +meadow, and spent most of her time by the stream. When it was low she +would trip over the wet, rough stones in its bed so fast that the +dragon-flies, with all their wings, could hardly keep pace with her. + +And, when the little stream was full to its brim, she would nestle +inside of a water-lily, and float for hours, half asleep, watching the +sunny ripples pass. In more restless moods, she would climb tall +bulrushes, or swing among the long, ribbon-like iris leaves. There was +no end to the ways she had of amusing herself. + +But one day, when she was swinging, a boy mistook her for a butterfly, +and, springing among the iris-leaves, had almost caught her in his hat. +Another day, as she was floating in the brook, an angler came, and threw +a pretty, gay-winged fly into the water. When Minnie seized this, a +sharp hook pierced her hand, and, the next thing she knew, she was +lifted high in the air on the fisherman's line! In an instant she freed +herself from the hook, and fell back into the water; but it was many +days before the wound stopped smarting, and many more before it healed. + +Still another time, Minnie found the brook covered with mosquitoes; the +fields were parched with the August sun; and the road, where all the +birds had gone to chat with the butterflies, was hot and dusty. So the +little girl nestled under some cool violet leaves. In the woods violets +blossom all the year round, you know, not plentifully as in spring, but +here and there you find a cluster in bloom. + +Such an one Minnie found, and, when she stretched herself in the +grateful shade of its leaves, the sweet flowers looked down at her like +the blue eyes of her mother, and the wind, that was whispering through +the long, fine grass, seemed her dear lullaby. + +But, as she leaned her head on the moss at the violet roots, and thought +of home, there came a sudden jar, and the next moment she was rolling in +a heap of dusty earth, and vainly striving to free herself, as you have +seen ants when their nest was broken open. + +A man was digging up the sod of violets to plant on the grave of his +little child that was dead. Minnie feared that, if he detected her, he +would stick her on a pin, as some new kind of butterfly, for his +cabinet. She hardly dared breathe until his work was finished, and the +man had gone away. + + + + +CHAPTER XXIX. + +THE LITTLE SEAMSTRESS. + + +All dusty and ragged, Minnie stood wondering whither she should turn +next, and what would become of her. + +No place seemed safe, no friends stood by her long; her garments were +torn to fringes, and the hot sun pelted down its rays upon her so that +she was faint. + +She had barely strength to climb a tall pine-tree near, in whose boughs +she had often swung through the long afternoons. But that was in +happier days. The sighing of the wind among the branches, which used to +be such pleasant music, was so mournful now that it filled Minnie's eyes +with tears. It seemed as if a hundred soft, sad voices were calling, +just as Minnie's heart called, for her mother to come and fold her in +her own dear arms once more, and comfort her, and forgive her, and take +her home, never, never to wander or be disobedient again. + +"Halloa!" said a voice. "What's the matter this time? Have you lost your +fine cloak, or has some one else grown tired of my little woman, and +sent her off to starve?" + +"Pray, squirrel, don't tease me, now. I'm so homesick, and so poor, and +tired, and discouraged, that it seems to me I shall die." + +"That's what I said you'd come to, when you left us; but I'm your +friend, Minnie, though I am such a rude fellow, and I don't mean you any +harm. Good-by!" + +Master Squirrel was frisking off, when Minnie called, "Wait, wait! +Couldn't you--" + +"O, you mustn't ask any favors. I'm full of business and care. Since we +parted I have found a mate; and have a nest of my own, and lots of +little ones. Call and see us!" + +He had hardly gone, when Mrs. Yellow-bird came in sight. "My dear +friend," Minnie began. + +"A pretty friend!" she interrupted; "think of the trouble you've caused +me!" + +"How?" + +"Ah, you can pretend not to know; but I am sure Master Squirrel has told +you what he did, in spite, because I helped carry the humming-bird home +for you, one day, and tipped him out of the car. You never even came to +say you were sorry." + +"How could I? I do not even know what the mischief was." + +"He upset my nest, and killed all my pretty little birds!" And she +poured forth a song that seemed to say, "All my little ones, all my +pretty birds gone! I can never be happy again!" + +Even after yellow-bird was out of sight, the sad notes of her song came +back, and she never knew of the tears that Minnie shed for her. + +A spider now let herself down by her silken thread from the bough above, +where she had been listening to Minnie's words, and pitying her sorrow. + +"Come! this is no way to be happy," she said, "and no way to make +friends. Who'd care to know such a ragged little witch as you? And +you're dusty as a toad. Why don't you wash your face, and mend your +gown, and let folks see you are good for something?" + +"O, I have tried!" said Minnie, mournfully. "I tried to sew a new gown +out of elm leaves; but they were so tender they wilted and tore before I +could put them together. Then I picked some beautiful oak leaves, and +they were so tough they blunted my needle, and frayed the spider-webs I +was sewing with." + +"O, well, come down in the grass, and see what we can do together." + +Down leaped Minnie, like a squirrel, and down dropped spider on her +silken thread. They ran through the grass together till they came to a +dwarf-oak, from which Minnie picked the large leaves, while spider wove +them together with her curious web. + +Minnie seated herself on a mushroom, and watched her good-natured friend +at work. Spider wove her threads back and forth, till the seams appeared +to be laced together with silvery, silken cords. She finished each with +silver tassels; and, when Minnie had dressed in her handsome gown, wove +a scarf of silver-gauze to throw across her shoulders. + +Then Minnie twisted grass-blades together, as yellow-bird had taught +her, and made a strong girdle for her waist, and tucked a rose leaf +under it for apron, and picked for bonnet a purple snap dragon, with a +golden frill inside. + +But, alas, the happy, laughing look was gone from Minnie's eyes; and the +rags and the little sun-burnt face looked out beneath all her finery! + + + + +CHAPTER XXX. + +STORK. + + +A few days after Minnie's escape from the pitcher-plant she heard the +minnows telling each other about a dreadful creature, that had been +wading in the brook, catching the fish in his wide bill, and gobbling +them down two or three at a time. + +She thought it must be the stork, and that she would keep out of his +way; but, when he really came at last, she couldn't help feeling how +nice it would be to sit high and dry on his back while he waded up and +down the stream. So Minnie came out of her hiding-place, and asked stork +if he remembered her. + +"Don't I? It's all I have lingered here for--the hope of seeing my queer +little woman again. My own home is far off, beside the blue ocean, +where I can hear the pleasant music of the waves." + +"How I should like to hear them!" Minnie exclaimed. "Do they make as +loud a sound as the water of the brook?" + +"Not much louder when the weather is fair; but, in a storm, they roar +like thunder, and don't they throw dainty breakfasts upon the rocks for +me, then!" + +"What! honey, and rose leaves, and berries?" + +"No; where should they come from? The waves bring good fat fish, and +clams, and black lobster-claws, that get broken in the storm." + +"O, dear, is that all?" + +"If you like it better, they bring shells, and pebbles white as eggs, +and beautiful seaweeds gay as any garden-flower, and little red crabs, +and curious star-fish. Come home with me, and I'll show what the waves +can do!" + +Minnie was not sorry to leave the brook, which had become so unsafe for +her; and, besides, you know she was always ready for a change. So, +begging the stork to bend his neck as near the ground as he could, she +clambered upon his back. Then stork outspread his broad, strong +wings, and up they flew, and on, on, on, I cannot tell how many miles, +till they reached the ocean-side. + +[Illustration: MINNIE'S RIDE.] + +Minnie had seen wide rivers and lakes before; but never anything equal +to this mighty ocean, which lay beneath them like an enormous mirror, as +they flew,--like a great glittering floor of glass. + +On one side it stretched far out--nothing but water--till it reached the +sky; on the other, it was bordered by a beach of smooth, white sand, +over which lay strewn the gay seaweeds, and pebbles, and shells, about +which stork had told her. + +Glad to stand on her feet again, Minnie skipped along the shore, +stooping often to admire some smooth, pearly shell, or glistening +pebble, or heap of shining bubbles thrown up by the waves, and changing +like opals in the sun. + +It seemed as if the little waves were chasing her; as if they ran up the +smooth sand on purpose to kiss her feet; as if they were asking her to +accept the pretty weeds and stones which they kept tossing on the +beach. + +"O, stork, what a beautiful place it is! We will stay here as long as we +live!" she said. + +"I don't know about that. The beach is a good place after a storm; but +we can't dine on bubbles and pebbles, Minnie, so climb my back again, +and I'll take you across to the rocks." + +A long, black ledge, against which the waves kept dashing, to turn white +with foam, and leap glittering into the air,--this was the place toward +which stork now steered. + +The little woman could not but tremble as she looked down upon all the +restless waves which stretched on every side as far as she could see. It +was a beautiful sight; but Minnie knew that, if she should fall, the +ocean would swallow her more easily than ever stork swallowed a minnow +in the brook. + +The rocks were wet, they found, and slippery; half covered with coarse +seaweed, that was brown as leaves in winter, and did not look like any +growing thing. But, selecting a higher ledge, which the sun had dried, +stork asked Minnie to sit here and rest, while he went in search of +food. + +At first she watched the beautiful glittering foam, which leaped so +lightly into the air, and then rolled back from the stones, in scattered +drops, like showers of red pearls. + +Then a croak called Minnie's attention; and, looking across the rocks, +she saw stork almost choking himself with trying to swallow a fish too +large for his throat. Down it went, at last; and now she watched how +cautiously and silently stork crept from stone to stone, lifting his +wings that he might easier walk on tip-toe with his clumsy feet. +Suddenly down went his snaky neck, and, when it rose, another fish was +writhing in his bill. + +The little girl was so absorbed in watching her friend at his work, that +she did not notice how night was falling, until a gust of cold sea-air +made a chill creep over her. + +Then, looking about, she found that the water had risen on every side, +so as almost to cover the rocks on which she sat. Stars one by one were +coming out in the sky, and she called loudly for stork to take her back +to the shore. + + + + +CHAPTER XXXI. + +THE SEA-SHORE. + + +Minnie did not call the stork a minute too soon. He had just caught +sight of his mate, and, rather stupid with eating so hearty a supper, +was about to fly away, forgetting his new friend. + +He did not tell her this, but treated her more kindly, perhaps, when he +thought how near she came to being drowned by his neglect. For the tide, +which rose every minute, would soon have swept her away. + +What should he find for Minnie's supper? She was not partial to raw +fish. It was too dark now to look for checkerberries and violet buds. +Ah! he would find some snails, and she should pick them out from their +pretty white shells. They were sweet as smelts, he told her. + +But, when Minnie came to look at them, it seemed to her like eating +worms, or bugs; and, though stork assured her that in England he had +seen some of the finest people eat these snails, she could not make up +her mind to put one in her mouth. + +So, a bright thought struck stork. Leaving Minnie on the beach, he +seized a clam, rose high in the air, and let it fall with such force +that the shell broke; out dropped its contents, and the little girl was +hungry enough to eat them with a relish. + +And, on their way home, stork stopped where there were birds' eggs in +plenty. Minnie remembered yellow-bird's grief over the loss of his +young, and could not bear to rob the nests at first. But hunger drove +her to it afterwards. + +Stork settled into his own quiet nest at last, and Minnie, creeping +under his wing to keep warm, slept soundly, lulled by the music of the +waves. + +The next morning Minnie found the beach all over star-shaped tracks, too +small for the stork's great feet. She found, soon, that these belonged +to a curious little bird, that came in flocks. These skipped about the +beach, as if they were trying to dance, or learning to take their steps. +They were not larger than a robin, but had long legs and bills, so as to +wade and catch fish among the waves. + +Minnie made friends with them, and offered to give them lessons in +dancing, of which they seemed so fond; but they told her they had only +learned their droll steps from a habit of skipping away from waves when +the tide was coming in. + +Still, they allowed her to arrange them for a contra dance, and, though +she had some trouble in persuading part to wait while the others went +through their figure, Minnie laughed till she was tired, with the funny +sight they made. + +As the tide left the beach, Minnie found plenty of rocks, and all along +the crevices of the rock were snails, such as stork had brought her the +night before; and, on the sides, barnacles, a kind of fish that, except +it is white and hard, looks like some plant growing. In hollows, where +there were pools of water, she saw purple mussels, their shells half +open that they might enjoy the sun. + +Then the seaweeds were different from anything she had ever seen. They +were shaped like trees,--apple-trees, or willows, or elms; but were of +the gayest colors you can think,--bright red, pink, purple, yellow, +green, and some were jet black, and pretty shades of brown. Some had +fruit on them,--dark yellow berries, or apples, with a rosy side like +any on our trees, only small as the head of a pin. The tallest of the +trees were not higher than the length of your hand. It was like a little +fairy forest. + +Then Minnie found, to her surprise, that the snails, which seemed so +fastened into the rocks by their shell, moved, shell and all. She found +them travelling in every direction,--but O, so slowly! It made her ache +to see them. She could run across the beach a dozen times before a snail +had moved an inch. + +Sometimes she took them in her hands and carried them to the pool they +were trying to reach; but they always said it made them dizzy and +confused to fly along so fast, and they preferred their own slow way. + +Sometimes the snails ran races with each other. That was a droll thing +to watch, for they all travelled as slowly, it seemed to Minnie, as the +minute-hand on the clock in her father's office. They would start +together, large snails and little ones, white snails and yellow, brown +and black, striped, spotted, shaded, dragging their houses after them. +There was a pretty little fellow, with a shell so bright it looked like +gold; he almost always won the race. + +One day Minnie picked up a beautiful purple mussel-shell, lined with +pearl, and with a ledge of pearl inside, that served her for a seat. She +launched this on the waves, and they bore her out to sea, where she +drifted on without a fear, she knew how to swim so well, in case her +boat upset; and then the beach birds were always ready to sail alongside +of her little bark, and they could carry tidings home, should any harm +befall her. + + + + +CHAPTER XXXII. + +STORM AND CALM. + + +Minnie was very happy at the shore. A stranger stork did come one day, +and, mistaking her for a fish, suddenly snatch her from her boat; but +she held his bill so fast that he was glad to drop her on the beach. And +at dark she was sorely afraid of the lobsters that crawled about the +rocks, blindly stretching their black claws for food; but they had never +harmed her yet, and, on the whole, the tiny woman thought she was having +a beautiful time. + +She loved to chase the little dimpling waves; she was never tired of +watching the flash of sunlight on the water by day, and at evening the +sweet path of moonlight, that stretched so far, seemed like a path to +her home,--if only she dared to trust herself on the waves! + +Then all the changing colors of the water, and the pretty wreaths of +foam, delighted her. She built a house, for herself, of such white +pebbles and shells that it looked like a little marble palace. And the +tables and seats inside, and the bed, were all beautiful +mother-of-pearl. + +But a storm came one day, and washed away her house, and dashed the +waves so high upon the beach, that Minnie fled for her life. + +It happened a spruce-tree stood not far from the shore; so she scrambled +up into its branches, both to be sheltered from, and to watch, the +storm. + +It was awful to see the great waves rise and beat against the beach, as +if they meant to wash the whole world away, and to hear the grating of +the stones they clashed together, and see the great mats of seaweed they +tore from the rocks, and the shells they swept out of their crevices, +and tossed on the shore in heaps. + +And the water kept rising, and rising, till it covered the beach, and +came nearer and nearer, until it reached the roots of the very tree into +which Minnie had climbed. It had been hard enough to bear the beating +of the branches in the wind, but now must she be drowned, so far from +her home, and no one ever dream what had become of her? + +[Illustration: MINNIE AT HOME.] + +Minnie screamed with fright, and then, through the storm, she seemed to +hear a low song, such as her mother used to sing, and, instead of the +rough spruce branches, it seemed as if her mother's arms were about her +now. + +She opened her eyes in wonder. Could it be that the soft hand she had +missed so long was stroking her curls once more? that the dear voice she +had never thought to hear again was singing soft lullabies over her? +that Allie was looking in her face, and Frank was holding her pale hand +in his? + +Yes, and, stranger still, her mother and Franky declared that they had +been with her all the while. On that first day of my story, when the +squirrel came,--it seemed years ago to Minnie, now,--she had fallen from +the fence, and bruised her head, and had been sick with a fever ever +since, and they thought she must have dreamed these marvellous things. + +Certain it was that, when the little girl looked in the glass, she found +herself large as ever, though pale and very thin. Her gown, too, was +made of muslin, instead of forest leaves; and, instead of being perched +on a pine-bough, here she stood in her own father's home! + +And here she resolved to stay and be content. For, whether awake or in a +fever-dream, Minnie had learned this, that, let it be large or small, +there is, in all this great wide world, no place so safe and pleasant as +our home. And this, besides, that the handsomest, kindest, gayest among +strangers, will never make up for the loss of our own friends, the +parents that have watched over us ever since we were born, the brothers +and sisters that have played by the same fireside, and under the same +green trees. + +Dear children, when you are older, you will find that all the people in +this world have strayed, like Minnie; that they wander about, making +acquaintance with many creatures, but still unsatisfied; that they +encounter storms, and suffer weariness and loneliness, and long for +those who dwell in the far-off home. + +Yes, and some morning we all shall wake in our Father's house, and find +about us the blessed voices and dear forms of those we have loved; and +then it will be like a dream that we seemed to lose them once. + +That home is on the other side of the stars. But Frank and Minnie are +young yet, and expect to find it here. They are young, and cannot +believe that their senses may be mistaken, and that all Minnie's curious +changes happened in a dream. Many an afternoon they still spend in +looking for the wondrous weed that will make them understand the +language of birds, and squirrels, and butterflies. + +And, to tell you the truth, I more than half believe they will find it +yet. + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Minnie; or, The Little Woman, by +Caroline Snowden Guild + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK MINNIE; OR, THE LITTLE WOMAN *** + +***** This file should be named 36760.txt or 36760.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + https://www.gutenberg.org/3/6/7/6/36760/ + +Produced by Heather Clark and the Online Distributed +Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net (This file was +produced from images generously made available by The +Internet Archive) + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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