11. TIRED OF BEING A LITTLE GIRL
“Oh, dear me,” sighed a little girl one fine morning, “I wish I could be something else!” “What would you like to be?” said a little voice. “I would like to be a rosebud,” she said. In a moment she felt her skirts twisting about her body, and when she touched her pink dress it was not calico but rose-leaves. She looked at her feet and they had turned green. So she knew she was a rosebud, growing on a bush in a garden. The wind swung her back and forth. It was so nice to be a rosebud. Suddenly a beautiful Fairy bent over and said, “I will drink the dew and eat the tender leaves of the rosebud for dinner.” “Don’t, don’t,” cried the little girl, “if you do you will eat my head.” The Fairy began to laugh. “Please, make me something else, quick,” cried the little girl; “make me into a bird.” In a minute she was a real, live bird hopping around among the daisies. “This is great fun,” she cried, “but I begin to feel hungry.” “Do you?” said a little voice; “then I’ll feed you.” In front of her stood the ugliest little man, holding in his hand a slimy worm, which he wanted to put into her mouth. She screamed out, “I won’t eat that worm! I’m not a real bird! I’m a—I’m a——” Just then she awoke and found she had been dreaming under the apple tree. Then she ran as fast as she could into the house, and cried, “O mamma, I’d rather be a little girl than anything else.”
12. THE ELEPHANT AND THE TAILOR
One day a tailor was sitting with his feet crossed by an open window, making some fine clothes, when an elephant, passing down to the river, playfully put his trunk in at the window. The tailor, out of meanness, pricked the elephant’s trunk with his sharp needle. The elephant in pain quickly drew it back and jogged on his way to the riverside, where, after quenching his thirst, he filled his trunk and mouth with the muddiest water he could find, and went back to the tailor’s window and squirted it all over him and his fine clothes, making him a laughing-stock to all his neighbors.
13. THE LOST CAMEL
A wise man of the East once met a company of merchants who had lost their camel in the desert. “Was the camel blind in his right eye, and lame in his left foot?” asked the man. “Yes,” they said. “Had he lost a front tooth?” “He had.” “And was he loaded with wheat on one side and with honey on the other?” “Yes, yes.” “Then,” said the man, “I haven’t seen your camel.” The merchants were angry and said: “You must have seen him, because you know all about him. You have taken our jewels and money from his load.” They seized the man and brought him to the judge, who heard the story. The judge, as well as the merchants, thought the man knew more about the camel than he wished to tell. “How did you know the camel was blind in one eye?” asked the judge. “I knew the camel was blind in one eye because it had eaten the grass on only one side of the path.” “How did you know it was lame in its left leg?” “Because I saw that the print of that foot was fainter.” “How did you know he had lost a tooth?” “Because wherever it had grazed a small tuft of grass was left untouched in the center of the bunch.” “But how could you tell what its load was?” cried the merchants; “tell us that.” “The busy ants on one side and the flies on the other showed me the camel was loaded with wheat and honey, and I knew it had strayed because there were no footprints before or behind.” “Go,” said the judge, “look for your camel.” The merchants did so, and found the beast not far away.
14. THE STORY WITHOUT AN END
Once a King who never tired of hearing stories said: “If any one can tell me a story that will last forever, I will give him my daughter and half my kingdom, but if he fails he shall have his head cut off.” The King’s daughter was very pretty, so many young men tried; but a week, a month, two or three months was all they could spin out their story, and off came their heads. At last a young man came who said, “I can tell a story that will last forever.” The King and his daughter begged him not to try, for they did not want to see another fine fellow lose his head. But he insisted that he would not fail, and so began his story: “Once upon a time a king built a high granary, and filled it with wheat to the very top. But in building it the workmen had left a very little hole near the ground, just large enough to let one little ant through. So a little ant went in and carried off a grain of wheat, then another little ant went in and carried off another grain of wheat, then another little ant went in and carried off another grain of wheat.” Day after day, week after week, the story-teller kept saying, “Then another little ant went in and carried off another grain of wheat.” “Tell us what happened after that?” pleaded the King. “O King, I must first tell you this,” he said; and so he continued several weeks longer. At last the King cried; “Man! Man! you will drive me wild with your ants. Take my daughter; be my heir; rule my kingdom; but let me hear no more of your abominable ants.” So the man married the King’s daughter, and they lived happily. But the King never cared to hear any more stories.