“What sort of needle?” asked Eddy; “a big needle—a darning needle—a bodkin?”
“Oh no!” replied George, with a smile; “we need nothing so grand as that. We’ll have a story of a nice little needle, just like that with which Lily is sewing.”
With eager curiosity I listened, and the Scissors and the Thimble were all full of attention, as George commenced his story.
CHAPTER XII.
THE STORY OF A NEEDLE AND A COMPASS.
“ONCE upon a time, in the days of fairies—”
“How long ago?” inquired Eddy.
“Well, you must not ask too particularly about that,” laughed George; “but I suppose that, as there is a compass in my story, it must have been after the compass was invented—about the thirteenth century, that is to say, though some believe that the Chinese had it more than two thousand years before.”
“But what is a compass?” said Eddy, looking up.