Friendly Fairies

"He began jumping and pawing with his heavy hoofs, and smashed all the catfish down in the mud and when they finally came out again, which was not until two or three days later, their heads were as flat as they are now!

"That is why all catfish have flat heads," Grandfather Skeeterhawk finished.

"It served them right for being so boastful!" Johnny Cricket said.

"It served them right for trying to harm someone who never harmed them!" Gran'pa Skeeterhawk replied, as he darted up in the air and flew over the tall cat-tails.

CROW TALK

"Caw, Caw, Caw," one old crow cried as he faced the other two crows. "Caw?" asked the second old crow as he plumed his feathers and screwed his head around to get a better view of the little boy lying under the tree.

"Caw-AAAAH! Ca—aaaaw!" replied the first crow.

"Those crows must be talking to each other!" Dickie Dorn thought to himself, as he lay upon his back under the big oak tree and watched the three crows.

The third crow now cried, "Awww! Ca-ca-caw!"

Dickie jumped up and ran down the hill to where Granny lived. It was a tiny little house, not much larger than a piano box, but it was plenty large enough for Granny, for Granny was only two feet high. Some people even thought Granny was a witch.

Of course Dickie knew that Granny was not a witch, for Granny was very good and kind. So Dickie knocked at Granny's tiny front door.

"Come in!" Granny cried. "Good morning, Dickie!" she said, as Dickie crawled into the tiny living room.

When Dickie took a seat upon a tiny sofa he did not know just how to ask Granny for what he wanted, so he twiddled his thumbs.

"Why do you twiddle your thumbs, Dickie?" Granny asked, as she smiled through her glasses at him.

"I was wondering what the three crows were talking of!" Dickie replied. Granny went to her tiny cupboard and brought out a little bottle of purple fluid. She dropped three drops of this into a tiny spoon and held it to Dickie.

"Am I to take it, Granny?"

"Yes, my dear, and you will be able to understand what the three crows are talking about."

Dickie swallowed the purple fluid, for he was very anxious to return to the big oak tree and listen to the crows. Granny watched him for a few moments with her eyes full of twinkles, then she told him to run along to the tree.

And Dickie thanked Granny and ran as fast as he could to the tree where the three crows were still talking.

The first crow cried, "I know where there is a box filled with golden pennies!"

"Ah, my brother, where?" asked the second crow.

"In the middle of the great meadow, and it will belong to the one who finds it first!"

"I know where there is a box full of candy!" the third crow cried.

"Ahhhh! Where is it, my brother?" asked the first crow.

"In the middle of the great meadow, and it will belong to the one who finds it first."

"I know where there is a box full of ice cream!" cried the second crow. "Aha! My brother, where?" asked the third crow.

"In the middle of the great meadow, and it will belong to the one who finds it first!"

Then the crows went on talking about other things, but Dickie did not hear them, for he was running in the direction of the great meadow as fast as he could.

And when he came to the middle of the great meadow there was a large box, and in the large box were three other boxes. One contained the golden pennies, another the candy and the third was full of ice cream.

"I found it first!" Dickie cried and he took a pencil stub from his pocket and, with much twisting of mouth and thinking, he printed his name upon the box.

Then Dickie ran home as fast as he could and told Daddy Dorn. Daddy Dorn hitched up Dobbin Dorn and Dickie and Daddy went to the middle of the great meadow and put the big box in the wagon and took it home.

Then they called Mamma Dorn and they all ate some of the ice cream and candy. Then Dickie took some of the ice cream and candy and some of the golden pennies to Granny.

Then Dickie ran back home and had some more ice cream and candy, and asked Daddy if he might take some of the golden pennies downtown and buy something, and Daddy Dorn said: "Of course, Dickie Dorn, for they are your golden pennies." So Dickie took two handfuls of the golden pennies downtown and bought a fine little pony with a little round stomach, and he bought a pretty pony cart and harness. Then Dicky drove the pony back home.

By the time Dickie reached home he was hungry for more ice cream and candy, so he went to the box to get some. "Oh Mamma and Daddy!" he cried, "Come see! The box is full of candy and ice cream!" And sure enough that was the case, for although they had eaten almost all of the ice cream and candy before now the two boxes were filled again. Then Daddy Dorn took two large handfuls of golden pennies from the golden penny box and they watched the box fill up with pennies again.

"Whee!" cried Dickie Dorn. "Whee!" cried Mamma Dorn, and "Whee!" cried Daddy Dorn. "We will give a party!" So Dickie drove around to everybody's house in his pony cart and invited everybody to come to the party.

And they all had such a nice time they ate the ice cream box empty sixteen times and it filled right up again, and they ate the candy box empty seventeen times and it filled right up again, and Dickie and Mamma and Daddy Dorn gave everybody all the golden pennies they could carry home and emptied the penny box eighteen times, and whenever they emptied the golden penny box it filled right up again.

And every one felt very grateful to Dickie Dorn and thanked him for such a nice time, and Dickie brought Granny out of a corner where she was eating her eighth dish of ice cream and told everybody that it was Granny who had really given the party, and he told them how Granny had helped him to learn crow talk.

So the people never called Granny a witch after that, for they knew she was very good and kindly.

And Dickie put the three boxes—the candy box, the ice cream box and the box with the golden pennies—out in front of his house so that whenever anyone wished candy or ice cream or golden pennies they might walk up and help themselves.

Dickie Dorn calls it an "All-The-Time Party," for there is always someone out in front of Dickie Dorn's house eating from the candy and the ice cream box and filling their pockets with golden pennies.

Some day I hope to see you there.

THE FAIRY RING

A little old man with a violin tucked under his arm shuffled down the attic steps and the many flights of stairs until finally he reached the streets.

As he shuffled down the street, he clutched his coat tightly about his throat, for the air was chill and he felt the cold.

At the first street corner he stopped and placed his violin to his shoulder to play, but catching a glance from the policeman across the street he hastily tucked his violin under his arm and shuffled on.

He walked a great distance before he again stopped.

It was a busy corner where hundreds of people passed every few minutes, but when he played no one stopped to listen to his music, much less to drop anything in the tiny tin cup he had placed on the sidewalk before him.

Tears came to the poor little old man's eyes; everyone was too busy to stop to hear his music.

So in the evening when he slowly retraced his steps towards his attic home, his feet were very tired and he shuffled more than he had in the morning. His back humped and his head drooped more, and the tears nearly blinded him. He had to stop and rest at each flight of stairs and he fell to his knees just as he reached the attic door.

He sat there and rested awhile, then caught hold of the doorknob and raised himself to his feet.

A quaint little white-haired woman greeted him with a cheery smile as he entered, then, seeing his sad face, she turned her head and tears came to her eyes.

"Honey!" the little old man sobbed, as he stumbled towards her chair and fell to his knees before her, burying his face in her lap.

Neither could say a word for a long time, then the little old man told her he had been unable to make a single penny by playing.

"No one cares to hear an old man play the violin!" he said. "No one cares that we go hungry and cold! And I can still play," he added fiercely, "just as well as ever I could! Listen to this!" and the little old man stood up and drew his bow across the violin strings in a sure, fiery manner, so that the lamp chimney rattled and sang with the vibrations of the strings.

And in his fierceness he improvised a melody so wild and beautiful his sister sat entranced.

As the little old man finished the melody he stood still more upright. Then straightening his old shoulders and pulling his hat firmly on his head, he stooped and kissed the old lady and walked with a firm tread to the door.

"I shall make them take notice tonight!" he cried. "I shall return with success!"

So again he went down the long flights of stairs and down the street until he came to a good corner where traffic was heavy.

There, with the mood upon him which had fired him in the attic, he played again the wild melody.

A few people hesitated as they passed, but only one stopped. This was an old woman, bent and wrinkled, who helped herself along with a cane. She stopped and looked him squarely in the eye and the little old man felt he should recognize her, but he could not remember where he had seen her before, nor was he sure that he had ever looked upon her until now.

At any rate, the faint memory inspired him and, raising his violin, he played a beautiful lullaby.

Before he had finished the old woman leaned over and dropped something into his little tin cup.

It sounded as loud as a silver dollar would have sounded.

"The dear old generous soul!" the old man thought as he continued playing.

He played for hours, but the old woman was the only one who stopped. "I will at least have enough to get Cynthia some warm food!" he said, thinking of what the old lady had dropped into his tin cup.

But when he looked, what was his dismay to see only a large iron ring!

Again he climbed the stairs to the attic but he felt too weary to say a thing and his sister knew that he had met with disappointment. He tossed the iron ring to her lap and went over to the bed and threw himself upon it.

"This is the end!" he said, and told her about the iron ring.

"The old woman seemed interested in my playing!" he said, "And perhaps she gave all she could give!"

"Let us not be downhearted, Brother!" said the sister. "Surely tomorrow you will find someone who will reward your talent!"

The little old man was quiet for a long time and then he arose and again drew his bow across the violin strings. The old lady sat very still and dreamed, for her brother was playing one of their childhood songs.

As she lost herself in reverie, she turned the iron ring around her finger and saw upon its surface, as she turned it, the faces of her playmates of long ago.

And as the brother swept from one melody to another, she saw the iron ring change color and grow larger and larger.

And, as she turned it, she saw the figures of her childhood playmates turn before her upon her lap, and they joined their voices with the silvery notes of the violin's long ago songs until the attic was filled with the melody and the figures danced from her lap and, taking her by the hand, circled in the center of the attic room laughing and singing.

The little old man had been playing with his eyes closed, but as the songs grew louder he opened them and beheld the ring of little figures, with his sister holding hands with two of them. And, rising from the bed, still playing the childhood songs of long ago, he walked to the center of the room. As he did so, the figures rose in the air and seemed to grow lighter and larger. And suddenly the scene changed! He was out in the woods, with lofty trees towering above him, while all about, laughing and talking, were hundreds of little fairies, gnomes and sprites, and there, too, were the playmates of long ago, just as he had seen them when he had closed his eyes and played in the attic.

And there, too, was his sister as she had been when a child. He looked at himself, and lo! he was no longer wrinkled and old. He was young again!

In his gladness he danced with joy, and catching his sister to his breast he kissed her again and again.

And, looking about him with shining eyes, he again drew his bow across the strings and played a tune so lively and full of sweet happiness the childhood friends caught hands and danced in a circle, and the little sprites, elves, gnomes and fairies caught hands and danced around the children, and as they passed before the brother he caught a mischievous glance from the eyes of one of the little fairies, and he knew in a moment she was the one who had played the old woman, and who had given him the iron ring....

The people who lived in the room below the attic room missed the little old man's shuffling step, and, not hearing it for two days, they told the landlady, a kindly soul who had let the brother and sister have the attic room free of charge, and all went up to investigate....

They rapped upon the attic door. All was quiet within. Timidly they opened the door and looked in. There upon the floor lay an old rusty iron ring. It was the Fairy Ring.

MR. AND MRS. THUMBKINS

Thumbkins ran beneath the bushes and down the tiny path until he came to where Tommy Grasshopper sat upon a blade of grass swinging in the breeze.

"Have you seen Mrs. Thumbkins, Tommy Grasshopper?" Thumbkins called.

"I have been asleep," replied Tommy Grasshopper, "And I haven't seen her!"

"Oh dear! Oh dear!" cried Thumbkins. "She has not been home all day!"

"Perhaps she went over to see Granpa Tobackyworm!" suggested Tommy Grasshopper, as he flicked his wings and made the blade of grass swing up and down.

So Thumbkins thanked Tommy Grasshopper and ran over to Granpa Tobacyworm's house.

Granpa Tobackyworm was sitting upon a blade of grass, swinging in the breeze and smoking his old clay pipe.

"Oh, Granpa Tobackyworm! Have you seen Mrs. Thumbkins? She has not been at home all day and I can not find her!" cried Thumbkins.

"Yes, I saw her early this morning going down the path with her acorn basket," said Granpa Tobackyworm as he blew a few rings of smoke in the air. "Perhaps she has gone to the Katydid grocery store to buy something," Granpa Tobackyworm added as he bounced up and down on his blade of grass.

So Thumbkins thanked Granpa Tobackyworm and went on down the tiny path.

"Hello, Thumbkins!" cried a cheery voice as Thumbkins ran under a bunch of flowers. "Where are you going in such a hurry?"

Thumbkins saw Billy Bumblebee sitting upon one of the flowers, swinging in the breeze.

"Mrs. Thumbkins has not been home all day!" said Thumbkins. "And I can not find her anywhere!"

"HUMMMM!" replied Billy Bumblebee. "Let me think! HUMMMM!" This was his way of thinking very hard.

"Perhaps she has gone over to see Granpa Tobackyworm, Mr Thumbkins!"

"No!" replied Thumbkins, "I went there, and also over to the Katydid store, but she was not there!"

"Suppose you climb upon my back, Thumbkins, and let me help you find her!" said Billy Bumblebee, as he buzzed his wings, making the flower sway up and down. So Thumbkins climbed up the flower stalk and took a seat upon Billy Bumblebee's back.

"Let us fly way up in the air so that we may look down over all the country!" said Billy Bumblebee, as he made his wings whirr and climbed high in the air.

Billy Bumblebee and Thumbkins looked over the country carefully, but they could not see Mrs. Thumbkins anywhere.

Finally Billy's sharp eyes discovered something shiny down by the side of the pond, so they flew down towards it. It was a new tin can house. The door was closed.

Thumbkins alighted from Billy Bumblebee's back and knocked at the door.

TINKY-TINKY-TINK!

"GRUMP! GRUMP!" said a deep voice from inside the tin can house. Billy Bumblebee peeped through a chink in a window, and saw a hoppy-toad with his mouth full of pancakes.

So Thumbkins picked up a pebble and knocked louder. TONKY-TONKY-TONK!

Old Man Hoppy-toad came to the door with a pancake in each hand and another large one in his mouth. "GRUMP! GRUMP!" he said.

"Where is Mrs. Thumbkins?" Billy Bumblebee demanded, as he buzzed around Old Man Hoppy-toad's head.

"I don't know!" said Old Man Hoppy-toad when he had swallowed the pancake.

"Yes, you do!" Thumbkins cried as he caught Old Man Hoppy-toad's hand. "Who made those pancakes for you?"

Billy Bumblebee buzzed closer to Old Man Hoppy-toad's head and Old Man Hoppy-toad blinked his big round eyes and finally said, "She is locked up in the kitchen!"

So Thumbkins ran to the kitchen and came out with Mrs. Thumbkins. Old Man Hoppy-toad had locked her in the kitchen so she would have to bake lots and lots of pancakes for him.

Thumbkins was so glad to see Mrs. Thumbkins he came very near crying. And Billy Bumblebee said to Old Man Hoppy-toad, "Now you must leave our neighborhood, for we do not permit anyone to bother anyone else in the Town of Tinythings."

So Old Man Hoppy-toad had to pack up all his things in a red handkerchief and hustle out of town.

And Billy Bumblebee buzzed right around his head as Old Man Hoppy-toad went down the path "Lickity split-Hoppity hop!" and never once looked behind him.

Thumbkins and Mrs. Thumbkins went back home, and when Billy Bumblebee returned and told them he had made Old Man Hoppy-toad go 'way down to the river they knew they would never be troubled with him again.

Mrs. Thumbkins said she had fried pancakes all day but she was not too tired to fry more. So she made a lot of pancakes, while Billy Bumblebee flew home and returned with a bucket of honey, and they had so many pancakes Mrs. Thumbkins asked Billy Bumblebee if he would fly around and invite all the neighbors in to help eat them.

Tommy Grasshopper, Granpa Tobackyworm, and all the other friends of the Thumbkins came and ate the lovely pancakes, covered with the delicious honey.

And, after eating as much as they could, everybody caught hold of hands and danced until late in the night, for the Katydid orchestra was there to furnish the music.

THE OLD, ROUGH STONE AND THE GNARLED TREE

A great rough stone lay beneath a gnarled old tree. Years ago a tiny squirrel had climbed upon the stone to nibble some nuts, but before he had finished he was startled away.

"There!" thought the stone to himself as he saw a nut roll to the ground, "now that nut will take root and grow into a tree and I will have to lie here for ages beneath its branches. I wish the silly squirrel had gone some other place to eat the nuts!"

When the little nut took root and sent its tiny shoots up in the air, the old, rough Stone said, "There! I knew it!" and he disliked the tree from that time on.

The old, rough Stone watched the tiny green shoot grow and grow until it grew into an enormous tree.

"Just see how he pushes me up in the air with his roots!" the old, rough Stone said to himself.

When the gnarled tree was covered with leaves in the summer time, the old, rough Stone said, "Just see how he hides the blue sky from my view!"

And in the winter time when the limbs of the tree were bare, the old, rough Stone said, "Just see how he lets the snow and the cold rain fall right on me!"

One night during a heavy storm the old, rough Stone heard a crash, and in the morning he saw the gnarled tree lying upon the ground. "Now I shall be all by myself again!" he said. Then he counted the rings in the trunk of the gnarled tree until he came to three hundred, which was as far as he could count. "More than three hundred years have passed since that silly little squirrel dropped the nut from which this tree grew!" said the old, rough Stone to himself.

Then men came with axes and cut up the tree and carried all of it away.

When the hot summer days came the sun beat down upon the old, rough Stone and he missed the shade of the gnarled tree. "My! It's hot!" said the old, rough Stone, "I wish the gnarled tree with its pretty rustling leaves were here again to shade me and keep me cool!"

When winter came the old, rough Stone missed the leaves which fell around him and kept him warm.

"Oh dear! How cold it is!" he cried, "I wish the gnarled tree would come back and scatter his leaves about me to protect me from the cold!"

So years and years and years passed, and the great old, rough Stone lay all alone.

"I wish another squirrel would come to eat nuts upon me!" he thought. "Squirrels are such knowing little creatures, I am sure another might drop a nut which would grow into a lovely tree to keep me company."

But, many more years passed, and never again did a tiny squirrel sit upon the old, rough Stone and eat nuts. And never again did another tree grow above the old, rough Stone to keep him company.

"Ah me!" sighed the old, rough Stone, "We never know how well off we are until we lose something we really need!"

SALLY MIGRUNDY

Sally Migrundy lived all alone in a tiny little cottage no larger than a piano box. This was plenty large enough for Sally Migrundy though, for she was a tiny little lady herself. Sally Migrundy's tiny little cottage stood at the edge of a stream, a beautiful crystal clear stream of tinkling water which sang in a continual murmur all day and all night to Sally Migrundy.

The stream tinkled merrily through a great forest which lay for miles and miles, a green mantle over the hills and valleys, and Sally Migrundy's tiny little cottage stood in the exact center of the great whispering forest.

All the wood creatures knew and loved Sally Migrundy and she knew and loved all of the wood creatures.

Each morning she would scatter food upon the surface of the singing stream and the lovely fish, their sides reflecting rainbow colors, would leap from the tinkling waters and splash about to show their pleasure. And she would place food about her little garden for the birds and they in turn repaid her by their wonderful melodies.

Even the mama deer brought their little, wabbly-legged baby deer to introduce to Sally Migrundy; and she rubbed their sleek sides and talked to them so they couldn't but love her.