They are not rich people and they live in a farm, and the father had just left off his work when his wife met him in the garden and told him that his baby was going to walk alone for the first time.
Geography
1. We know that the world is round because if a sailor starts from his home and sails on and on without turning he will come back to the place he started from; if you stand on the sea shore and watch a ship coming to-wards you, you will first of all see the mast of the ship and then the hull last; if you stand on a high place you will see that you are in the middle of a circle.
Tales
From ‘Heroes of Asgard’
2. Loki, before he left Jotunheim, told his witch-wife to keep the children indoors, for said he, the Æsir will soon find out that we have a secret down here, but while Loki was away, his wife could not keep Jormungand in the house, because he grew so big, that she had to let his tail out of the door. And Odin saw Jormungand’s tail sticking out of the door, so he dismounted Air Throne, and said farewell to all the Æsir, and then went to Jotunheim, but before he went he taught all the people how to fight and make armour, and not to forget what he had taught them. So he went on and on and on until he came to the Golden Van, and asked him what his education was, and what he did up here. And the answer was, that he gave wisdom, but that it was so dear that many people turned away sorrowfully. Odin said, “What is the price? I would willingly give my right hand.” But the Van said it is your right eye you must give; but Odin didn’t think the price too dear, so he plucked his right eye out and gave it to the Van. Then he got wisdom and set off for Jotunheim. At last he came to the very edge of Jotunheim, and then he peeped over to Jotunheim and saw all the hideous creatures that lived down there; and he hung over Jotunheim two or three days and nights before he went in.
Natural History
1. There was a lady that wanted to have a pair of pigeons, and a friend sent her two. And when she opened the basket she found that the mate had flown away. Then the lady got a mate for the pigeon but the pigeon just pecked at it, so the lady got another one, that was white like herself, and so she kept this one. The female was named Blanche; and every day for four hours Blanche would come in to the lady’s room and take a rest on a great big Bible that lay on the table.
2. Tits are very fond of fat in the Winter. There are four different kinds of Tits, Greater Tit, Marsh Tit, Blue Tit, and the Cole Tit. And sometimes the tits sit at the entrance to a beehive and eat all the bees that come out. They build in old letter-boxes sometimes. The Blue Tits are great fighters, and if you hang a basket outside your window with fat in it, the Blue Tit will hang down and eat all it wants, and act King of the Castle. And the Cole Tit takes away all it wants and stores it up.
Rooks are black and very like crows, and the way you will know them from crows is that they build altogether and crows don’t. When the rook is one year old, it has a grey bald patch on its head.
Starlings look black when you see them far off and when you see them near to you they look purple and white on their backs. They build in hollow trees and in chimneys.