The editors’ thanks are due to the following authors and publishers for the use of valuable material in this book:
To T. C. and E. C. Jack of Edinburgh for permission to use “Holly” and the legend of the “Yew” from “Shown to the Children Series”; to Frederick A. Stokes Company for “The Voice of the Pine Trees,” from “Myths and Legends of Japan”; to the Wessels Company for “The First Winter” by W. W. Canfield; to Julia Dodge for permission to use two poems by Mary Mapes Dodge; to the Christian Herald for a poem by Margaret E. Sangster, Jr.; to Lothrop, Lee and Shepherd for “The Pine and the Flax” by Albrekt Segerstedt; to the Outlook Company for a story by Mine Morishima; to the Independent for the poem “Who Loves the Trees Best?”; to Laura E. Richards for her story “Christmas Gifts”; to George Putnam and Sons for “Silver Bells” by Hamish Hendry, and “The Happy Prince” by Oscar Wilde; to the Churchman for a story by John P. Peters; to Dodd, Mead and Company for the story “Holly” from the “Story Hour”; and “Prince Winter” from “The Four Seasons” by Carl Ewald; to George Jacobs for “A Legend of St. Nicholas” from “In God’s Garden” by Amy Steedman; to A. Flanagan Company for “The New Year’s Bell” from “Christ-Child Tales” by Andrea Hofer Proudfoot; to Jay T. Stocking and the Pilgrims Press for “The Snowball That Didn’t Melt” from “The Golden Goblet”; to the New York State Museum for permission to use two stories contained in Bulletin 125, by Mrs. H. M. Converse; to Small, Maynard and Company for “A Song of the Snow,” from “Complete Works of Madison Cawein.”
The selections from James Russell Lowell, Edna Dean Proctor, Celia Thaxter, Nathaniel Hawthorne, Edith M. Thomas, Margaret Deland, John Townsend Trowbridge, and Frank Dempster Sherman are used by permission of, and by special arrangement with, Houghton, Mifflin Company, authorized publishers of their works.
CONTENTS
| [INTRODUCTION] | ||
| [WINTER STORIES AND LEGENDS] | ||
| PAGE | ||
| Winter (selection) | James Russell Lowell | [2] |
| The Ice King (Indian legend) | Eleanor L. Skinner | [3] |
| A Song of the Snow (poem) | Madison Cawein | [9] |
| King Frost and King Winter (adapted) | Margaret T. Canby | [11] |
| The Snowstorm (poem) | Ralph Waldo Emerson | [18] |
| The First Winter (Iroquois legend) | W. W. Canfield | [20] |
| Snow Song (poem) | Frank Dempster Sherman | [24] |
| The Snow Maiden (Russian legend. Translated from the French) | Eleanor L. Skinner | [25] |
| The Frost King (poem) | Mary Mapes Dodge | [30] |
| King Winter’s Harvest | Selected | [32] |
| Old King Winter (poem) | Anna E. Skinner | [36] |
| Sheltering Wings | Harriet Louise Jerome | [37] |
| Snowflakes (selection) | Henry Wadsworth Longfellow | [41] |
| The Snow-Image | Nathaniel Hawthorne | [42] |
| [WINTER WOODS] | ||
| The First Snow-Fall | James Russell Lowell | [62] |
| The Voice of the Pine Trees (Japanese legend) | Frank Hadland Davis | [63] |
| The Pine Tree Maiden (Indian legend) | Ada M. Skinner | [68] |
| The Holly | Janet Harvey Kelman | [73] |
| The Fable of the Three Elms (poem) | Margaret E. Sangster, Jr. | [79] |
| The Pine and the Willow | Mine Morishima | [82] |
| Why the Wild Rabbits Are White in Winter (Algonquin legend retold) | Eleanor L. Skinner | [86] |
| The Yew | Janet Harvey Kelman | [93] |
| How the Pine Tree Did Some Good | Samuel W. Duffield | [95] |
| A Wonderful Weaver (poem) | George Cooper | [105] |
| The Pine and the Flax | Albrekt Segerstedt | [107] |
| The Fir Tree (poem) | Edith M. Thomas | [110] |
| Why Bruin Has a Stumpy Tail (Norwegian legend) | Eleanor L. Skinner | [111] |
| Pines and Firs | Mrs. Dyson | [116] |
| Who Loves the Trees Best? (poem) | Selected | [131] |
| [CHRISTMAS EVERYWHERE] | ||
| A Christmas Song | Phillips Brooks | [134] |
| The Shepherd Maiden’s Gift (Eastern legend) | Eleanor L. Skinner | [135] |
| Christmas Gifts | Laura E. Richards | [141] |
| Silver Bells (poem) | Hamish Hendry | [146] |
| The Animals’ Christmas Tree | John P. Peters | [147] |
| A Christmas Carol | Christina Rossetti | [162] |
| Holly | Ada M. Marzials | [164] |
| The Willow Man (poem) | Juliana Horatia Ewing | [175] |
| The Ivy Green (selection) | Charles Dickens | [178] |
| Legend of St. Nicholas | Amy Steedman | [179] |
| Christmas Bells (selection) | Henry Wadsworth Longfellow | [197] |
| A Night With Santa Claus | Anna R. Annan | [198] |
| A Child’s Thought About Santa Claus (poem) | Sydney Dayre | [208] |
| Charity in a Cottage | Jean Ingelow | [210] |
| The Waits (poem) | Margaret Deland | [223] |
| Where Love Is There God Is Also (adapted) | Leo Tolstoi | [225] |
| God Rest Ye, Merry Gentlemen | Dinah Mulock Craik | [234] |
| [THE GLAD NEW YEAR] | ||
| The Glad New Year (poem) | Mary Mapes Dodge | [236] |
| The Bad Little Goblin’s New Year | Mary Stewart | [237] |
| Selection | Robert Herrick | [248] |
| The Queen of the Year (poem) | Edna Dean Proctor | [249] |
| The New Year’s Bell | Andrea Hofer Proudfoot | [250] |
| The New Year | Selected | [256] |
| The Child and the Year (poem) | Celia Thaxter | [257] |
| A Masque of the Days | Charles Lamb | [258] |
| Ring Out, Wild Bells (poem) | Alfred Tennyson | [262] |
| [MIDWINTER] | ||
| The Bells (selection) | Edgar Allen Poe | [264] |
| A January Thaw | Dallas Lore Sharp | [265] |
| The Snow Man | Hans Christian Andersen | [276] |
| The Happy Prince | Oscar Wilde | [284] |
| The Legend of King Wenceslaus (adapted) | John Mason Neale | [303] |
| Midwinter (poem) | John Townsend Trowbridge | [310] |
| [WHEN WINTER AND SPRING MET] | ||
| Old Winter (poem) | Thomas Noel | [314] |
| The Snowball That Didn’t Melt | Jay T. Stocking | [315] |
| Gau-wi-di-ne and Go-hay (Iroquois legend retold) | Eleanor L. Skinner | [330] |
| Naming the Winds (Indian legend retold) | Ada M. Skinner | [339] |
| North Wind’s Frolic (translated) | Montgomery Maze | [343] |
| The Months: A Pageant (adapted) | Christina Rossetti | [346] |
| Prince Winter | Carl Ewald | [366] |
| How Spring and Winter Met (poem) | Edith M. Thomas | [376] |
INTRODUCTION
“Once upon a time,” in the winter season suggests happy, young faces grouped about a blazing fire. A heavy snowstorm promises plenty of sport for tomorrow, but at present the cosiness indoors is very attractive, especially now that the evening story hour is at hand. And while the story-teller is slowly choosing his subjects he hears the children’s impatient whispers of “The Snow Man,” “Prince Winter,” “The Legend of Holly,” “The Animals’ Christmas Tree.”
Silence! The story-teller turns his eyes from the glowing fire to the faces of his eager audience. He is ready to begin.