SKY-HIGH'S WONDER-TALE.
"My Lady of the Beautiful Morning" believed in the education of story-telling; and she did not limit her stories wholly to tales with "morals," but told those that awakened the imagination. This she did for Lucy's sake and Charlie's, believing that all little people should pass through fairyland once in their lives.
She used, like Queen Scheherazade of the Arabian Nights, to gather up stories that pictured places, habits, and manners of the people, to relate; and this year, when the garden began to flower, she had many such to tell under the trees. Sky-High was always a listener. He was always permitted to be with the family in the evening. He loved wonder-tales. They carried him off as on an "enchanted carpet."
One evening Mrs. Van Buren said, "I have a new idea. Sky-High might tell us some stories. He speaks English well when he chooses. Sky-High, tell us some tale of your own country. You have wonder-tales in China."
"In the stories of my country animals talk," said Sky-High.
"Tell us some of your stories in which animals talk," said Lucy, clapping her hands.
"Animals always talk, everywhere," said Sky-High. "In China we interpret what they say."
The word "interpret" was rather a big one for Lucy. But as Sky-High was given to using unexpected words, the little girl was herself beginning to indulge in a larger vocabulary.
So Sky-High began to relate an old Chinese household story.