From this noon shadow of the sun, men got the idea of the sundial. Placing a round disc, or plate, made of brass, or copper, on a stone or [[94]]post, and setting on one side of it a metal pin, they noticed the sun’s shadow going round it in a circle. On the spaces, they marked the hours. Soon, it became the general fashion to have sundials in the gardens.
Yet all the time the fairies laughed at mortals and declared that if they could live on the earth, during the sunshiny hours, they would be able to tell the time of day from the flowers and the sun’s place in the sky. So, just for the fun of it, whenever they noticed a new sundial, of brass, or stone, set up in a garden, they invariably held a ball, and danced around it all night.
Once in a while, they went into a church when no one was there, and walked and sported around the hour glass in the pulpit.
Of the arrant stupidity of some mortals, the fairies became finally and perfectly sure, when one night, they gathered together for a merry dance around a new sundial. This had been placed, only that day, in a garden owned by an old fellow, who was reputed, by his neighbors, to be a very wise man. The fairies were interrupted in their plan of playing ring-around-a-rosy, when their sentinel, set to watch, had seen a strange sight and called out a loud alarm.
Now this funny old fellow had a name which, if translated, into English, would be Soft Pudding. He was a kind-hearted chap, that loved [[95]]the birds, and his pets, and children, but he was a most absent-minded codger. He never knew where his hat was, when he went outdoors, so his wife tied it, by a string, on to his button hole, as she did the little children’s mittens with a bit of tape, over their shoulders. Yet he was a delightful daddy, and all the little folks loved him.
Mr. Soft Pudding gladly paid the bill for his new toy, the sundial. He was so overjoyed at the idea of telling time by a shadow, that he talked about it for hours. Indeed, he was so absorbed in it, that he forgot all about the sun, and the necessity of its shining, or that daylight was at all requisite for his enjoyment, in looking at the sundial.
So, on one cool autumn night, old Soft Pudding put on his cloak, lighted his lantern, and walked out into the garden to see what time it might be! Fool that he was, he found that as he changed the position of the lantern, its rays every time cast a new shadow. Instead of its showing one time, it looked as if there were several times, marked by the pin; and, as if everything had gone wrong. Then, for the first time, the idea entered his head that sundials were for use, during the daytime only.
“Who would have thought it?” he cried, as he tramped back into his house, hoping his wife would not know the object of his errand and [[96]]laugh at him. But he did not tell her, and she thought he had gone out to look after the cows.
But the fairies were irritated and in bad temper, because they had been driven away, by this intruder on their pleasures. They laughed at his stupidity, but their vexation was plain to be seen.
“He might as well have had a wooden head, or one made of a squash. This only shows what fools these mortals be,” said one fairy to another.