Little Johannes

by Frederik van Eeden

'No. Who could?'

'Who?—Well, Johannes, you are a very strange little boy. Do you like beasts better?'

'Oh, much better,—and flowers.'

'So do I myself sometimes; just for once in a while. But it is not right. We ought to love our fellow-men, my father says.'

'Why is it not right? I love whom I choose, whether it is right or not.'

'Fie, Johannes! Have you no parents or any one to take care of you? And do you not love them?'

'Yes,' said Johannes thoughtfully, 'I love my father. But not because it is right—nor yet because he is a man.'

'Why then?'

'That I do not know,—because he is not like other men; because he too is fond of birds and flowers.'

'And so am I, Johannes, as you may see.' And Robinetta called the robin to sit on her hand and talked to him fondly.