So it stood there all alone,
Loosely flapping, torn and tattered,
Till the brood was fledged and flown,
Singing o’er those walls of stone
Which the cannon-shot had shattered.
—Adapted from Longfellow’s “The Emperor’s Bird’s Nest.”
14. THE SWISS PATRIOT AND THE SPEARS
Many years ago when an Austrian army was marching into Switzerland, Swiss peasants came down from the mountains with bows and arrows, scythes and pitchforks, sticks and clubs, to save their country. The Austrian soldiers were all armed with spears and shields and shining armor, and as they moved together in solid ranks, what could the poor peasants do against such foes? “We must break their ranks if we win!” cried the Swiss leader. So bowmen shot their arrows, but they glanced from the soldiers’ shields like raindrops from a roof. Others tried their scythes and pitchforks and sticks and clubs, but the lines were still unbroken. The Austrians moved steadily forward, their shields lapping over one another and their thousand spears shining in the sunlight like so many bristles. They were unafraid before the Swiss sticks and stones and scythes and arrows. “We must break their ranks or we are lost!” cried the leader again; and in a moment a poor peasant, named Arnold Winkleried, stepped out and cried: “My friends, on the side of yonder mountain I have a happy home. There my wife and my little children await my return. But they will never see me again, for this day I give my life for my country. I commit my wife and children to your care. I will break the lines, follow me.” He had nothing in his hands, neither stone nor club nor other weapon. Rushing forward toward the soldiers he gathered a number of their spears together against his breast and fell pierced through and through. But he had broken the ranks of the enemy and made way for his countrymen to win the battle and to gain their liberty. Switzerland was saved, and the Swiss patriot did not gather the spears into his own breast in vain.
15. THE EMPEROR AND THE GOOSE-BOY
One hot summer day King Maximilian, of Bavaria, was walking in the country. Stopping under a tree to rest, he took a little book from his pocket to read, but he soon fell asleep. When he awoke he started for home, and had walked a mile when he thought of the book he had left under the tree. “My boy,” he said to a barefooted lad who was tending a large flock of geese near-by, “if you will run to that oak tree at the second turning of the road and bring me the book that I left there, I will give you this gold-piece.” The boy said, “I would gladly go, but I cannot leave the geese.” “Oh, I will mind them while you are gone,” said the King. The boy laughed. “I should like to see you minding them,” he said; “why, they would run away from you in a minute.” “Only let me try,” said the King. At last the boy gave the King his whip and showed him how to crack it, and started off. The King sat on a stone and laughed at the thought of his being a goose-herd. But the geese missed the boy at once, and with a great cackling and hissing they went off, half-flying and half-running, across the field. The King ran after them, trying to crack his whip and bring them back. But they got into a garden and were feeding on the tender vegetables when the boy got back with the book. “Just as I thought,” said the boy, “I have found your book, and you have lost my geese.” The King did the best he could to help the boy drive back the geese into the field. Then he gave the boy another gold-piece. The boy thanked him and said: “You are a very good man, and a very good king; but you will have to try a long time before you are a very good goose-herd.”