THE CHILDREN’S NEW DRESSES
Once there was a small town. In the small town were many houses and in the houses were many people. In one of these houses there lived a mother with a great many children. One night after the children were all in bed and the mother was sitting by the fire, a brick fell down the chimney. Then another came bumping and rattling down. Now outside there was a great wind blowing. It whistled down the chimney and up flamed the fire. The sparks flew into the hole where the bricks had fallen out. The first thing the mother knew the house was all on fire. Still the great wind roared. The house next door caught fire, then the next, then the next, then the next, until half the little town was burning. The mother with the many children and many other frightened people ran to the part of the town behind the great wind. And there they stayed until the wind died down and they could put the fire out.
Now many of these people’s clothes had burned with their houses. The many children who had gone to bed before the fire began had nothing to wear except their nightclothes. The mother went to the store. That too was burned! But she found the storekeeper and said:—“Storekeeper, sell me some dresses for my children for their dresses have been burned and they have nothing to wear.”
“But, mother of the many children,” the storekeeper replied, “first I must get me the dresses. For that I must send to the many-fingered factory in the middle of the city.”
So he sent to the many-fingered factory in the middle of the great city and he said:—“Clothier, send me some dresses that I may sell to the mother; for her children’s dresses have burned up and they have nothing to wear.”
But the clothier in the many-fingered factory replied:—“First I must get me the cloth. For that I must send to the weaving mill. The weaving mill is in the hills where there is water to turn its wheels.”
So the clothier sent to the weaving mill in the hills where there is water to turn its wheels and said:—“Weaver, send me the cloth that the many fingers at the factory may make dresses to send to the storekeeper in the small town to sell to the mother; for her children’s dresses have burned up and they have nothing to wear.”