&&000 p7 &&111 It was time to go home from the picnic, and the cars were waiting for the boys. =Joe could not find =Dandy anywhere. He called and called, but the little dog did not come. All the other boys helped =Joe look for =Dandy. But no one could find the little black and white dog, and at last =Joe had to go home without him. "Maybe =Dandy is not lost," said one of the boys. "Maybe he went home." But =Joe did not find =Dandy at home. "He may find his way home tomorrow morning," said =Joe's father. =Joe shook his head and said, "It is too far for a little dog like =Dandy to find his way home. Oh, dear! I wish I had never let him go with us." His mother and father were very sorry for =Joe. "Come and eat your supper now," said his mother. "We will all look for =Dandy in the morning." But =Joe could not eat his supper. He was thinking and thinking about his lost dog. "Poor =Dandy," he said! "I did not take very good care of him. Maybe I'll never see him again." Just then he heard the telephone and ran to answer it. A man was talking. &&000 p27 &&111 =Polly and =Betty were at the window watching for =Grandmother. Every year she came to see them on her birthday. When =Grandmother came, she had two packages. The girls ran to help her. "Don't let them fall," she said. "They have magic in them and the magic will not work if you let them fall." "What is in the packages," asked =Polly and =Betty? "Wait and see," said =Grandmother. After dinner =Grandmother said, "Now we will open the packages." Out of each package came a flower pot full of black dirt. Each pot had three letters tied to it with strings. "Here is a magic pot for each of you," said =Grandmother. "Each pot has three letters that tell you how to make the magic work. Open the first letter now, the next one in four weeks, and the last one on Valentine Day." &&000 p44 &&111 Poor =Billy! He was frightened by the noise of his feet on the bridge. The children did not know that he was frightened. Out they jumped. They shouted at =Billy. Though they pulled him and pushed him, he would not go. Soon there were many cars waiting behind them. What a noise they made! "Oh, dear," said =Betty, "look at all the cars behind us. What shall we do?" "I'll try the magic word," thought =Jim. So he told the other children to get into the cart. Then he put his mouth right up to =Billy's ear and whispered, "Please," as load as he could! What do you think happened then? =Billy started. =Jim hopped into the cart, and they went galloping over the bridge. That evening =Jim told =Grandfather how he had tried the magic word. =Grandfather said, "You see that please is a magic word. People will always try to help you when you say it. But I will tell you a secret about =Billy. When you whisper in his ear, that tickles him, and he cannot stand still." After that =Jim always knew what to do when the little pony did not want to go. &&000 p65 =MotherBear looked around. One little cub had stuck his head into a can of ice cream and could not get it out. =MotherBear gave the can a quick blow with her paw, and it went rolling away. There was nothing more to eat. The bears' picnic was over. "Come," grunted =MotherBear to her cubs, and away they went without even stopping to say, "Thank you." Once there was a white pony that lived on a farm. His hair was so white and smooth that he was called =WhiteSatin. Every day =WhiteSatin took =Patty for a ride. Sometimes =Patty rode in the little red pony cart, and sometimes she rode on =WhiteSatin's back. One day =Patty's father came home with a big blue car and put it in the barn. =WhiteSatin did not like cars. He was always afraid they would run into him and hurt him. He did not like to have the car standing near him in the barn. He shook his head and snapped his big white teeth. That day =Patty went to town with her father in the new car. =WhiteSatin was very angry. "They do not want me any more," he said. "I shall run away." &&000 p84 &&111 She had never before seen a rabbit with red wings, and she didn't know that the strange animal was her own little rabbit. So he had to look for some other place to sleep. He went to many animal holes, but he could not get in anywhere. Everyone was afraid of such a strange-looking animal. At last he went to see Mr =GroundHog. The wise old ground hog knew him, and let him come in. But =LittleRabbit had to sleep on a hard bed of sticks. It was not at all like his own soft bed. In the morning old Mr =GroundHog asked, "Don't you like your red wings, =LittleRabbit?" "No, no, no," cried the rabbit! "Well," said wise old Mr =GroundHog, "why don't you go to the Wishing Pond and with them off again?" Away went the rabbit to the Wishing Pond as fast as he could hop. He made his wish, and looked at himself in the water. Then he turned around three times, and off went his wings. How happy he was, as he hurried to his home under the tree! His mother knew him at once, and quickly let him in. =LittleRabbit was very glad to be like other rabbits once more. Never again did he with for things he did not need. &&000 p107 &&111 When =Tom got home, his mother said, "What did I tell you? See how red your eyes are! The Fairy Shoemaker knows many sly tricks. "You had better work for your money instead of hunting for a pot of gold." But =Tom would not give up. He went on hunting for the Fairy Shoemaker. He still hoped to find the pot of gold. "I found the Fairy Shoemaker once," he said," and I will find him again." So every day =Tom looked for him on the hill, in the meadow, and in the woods. And one day he heard the elf again, near the pond in the meadow. "=Tick-tack, =tick-tack, =Tick-a-tack-too." The boy listened. Yes! It was the Fairy Shoemaker's hammer. As =Tom listened, he could hear a little voice singing, "This way, that way, So we make a shoe. Tack a toe, tack a heel, =Tick-a-tack-too." =Tom walked quietly to the pond. The wee elf was sitting on a stone. He was holding a little shoe and hammering tacks into it. His tiny hammer went: "=Tick-tack, =tick-tack, =Tick-a-tack-too." =Tom crept up softly. He was very, very close before the Fairy Shoemaker saw him. "That's a fine shoe," said the boy. The queer little fellow looked up in surprise. "Thank you, sir," he answered. "How very small it is," said =Tom! "It's for a fairy, isn't it?" "That's a secret," said the elf. &&000 p127 &&111 When =Billy went past =George's house, he saw =George spinning his top on the walk. "Come here, =Billy," =George called. "Let's spin our tops." "I can't stop just now," answered =Billy. "=Mother sent me on an errand. I'll play with you after I come back." =Billy went on. Soon he came past again with his arms full of packages. That evening =Billy helped his father rake the leaves. They raked them into a big pile. Then they carried them to the garden and burned them. "I could do more work," said =Billy, "if I had a big red wagon." =George's father was raking leaves, too. He needed a helper, but =George was in the park, playing ball. The two boys would often meet at the toy store. One day when they saw the big red wagon, it had a green card on it. "Oh, look," said =George. "The card says sold. Some boy is going to get the red wagon." The boys walked home slowly. They felt sad because the red wagon was sold. They wondered if any of their playmates would get it. &&000 p 145 &&111 But after a time =LittlePig grew tired of such hard work. "I want to work at something else," he said to himself. "I will go out into the world, and maybe I can find some work that is easy." So =LittlePig shut up his little brick house and started down the road. After a while he heard the sound of music. When he stopped to listen, he saw a small white house among the trees. =LittlePig went toward the house. A big yellow cat was sitting in the door, playing a fiddle. "It must be easy to play a fiddle," thought =LittlePig. "It can't be so hard as digging in the dirt all day." So he went up to the big yellow cat and asked, "Will you teach me to play the fiddle, =FriendCat?" "To be sure," answered the cat. "Try it now. Just do as I am doing." =LittlePig took the fiddle and began to play. But no sweet music came from it. "=Squeak, =squeak, =squeak," went the fiddle! The pig felt very sad. "Oh, I can't make sweet music as you do," he said. &&000 p165 &&111 "You smell only the meat that I have cooked for your supper," said his wife. "Sit down and eat." When the giant was through eating, he growled, "=Wife, bring the magic hen!" His wife brought the hen and put it on the table. "Lay, good hen," cried the giant! At once the hen laid a golden egg. "Lay again," said the giant, and the hen laid a second golden egg! "Lay again," said the giant, and the hen laid a third golden egg! Then the giant put the three eggs into his pocket and soon fell fast asleep. Now =Jack had been peeping through a crack in the door, and he had seen the wonderful hen. "There is the hen that that fairy told me to get," he thought! So, while the giant was asleep, =Jack crept softly out of the little room. Without making a sound, he took the magic hen and ran from the castle. In a minute, he reached the beanstalk. Soon he was safe on the earth below. How happy his mother was when she saw the hen that laid golden eggs! &&000 p185 &&111 The lad took the stick, and went again to the inn. He said to himself, "I think I know who took my magic cloth and my sheep. I will see if I can get them back." So he sat down on a chair. "I'll play that I am asleep," he thought, "and see if anyone tries to get my stick." Soon the sly inn-keeper came along and saw the stick standing against the wall beside the lad. He said to himself, "I have a wonderful cloth that gives me good things to eat and a wonderful sheep that gives me gold. Perhaps this is a wonderful stick." He went to the woods with his ax and cut a stick just like the one beside the boy's chair. Then he came back and started to take the boy's stick. Just as he touched the stick, the lad shouted, "=Stick, =stick, beat him!" The stick began to beat the inn-keeper at once. The man bumped against tables and chairs, trying to get away. "Stop the stick," he cried! "Don't let it beat me anymore. I will give you back your cloth and your sheep." "So the boy said, "=Stick, =stick, stop!" Then he took the cloth and the sheep and the stick and went home. "Well, =Mother," he said, "the =NorthWind has been good to us after all." &&000 p209 &&111 All at once =Jenny began to cry. "Oh, =Bill," she said! "=Brownie is in the loft! I couldn't coax him to come down the ladder. =Brownie! =Brownie!" =Brownie came to the window above them and barked. Smoke and flames puffed out from the barn. How could anyone go into the loft and get the dog? "I must save =Brownie," thought =Bill. There was a big tree at the side of the barn near the window. =Bill had often climbed up the tree to that window. Could he climb the tree in time to save =Brownie? He must try it. =Bill went up the tree as fast as he could, and began creeping out toward the window. Thick smoke was now rolling from the loft above him, and =Brownie was barking with all his might. Closer and closer to the window =Bill crept until =Brownie was just beneath him. He picked up the little dog with one hand and held onto the tree with the other, so that he would not fall. The terrible smoke hurt =Bill's eyes, and he wondered how he could ever get down the tree with =Brownie. He looked down and saw a large crowd of people watching him. "Hold on," they called to him. "Here come the firemen!" &&000 p230 &&111 Once upon a time, many years ago, the winter had been long and cold. "What makes =Spring so late," asked all the children? "Let us go to the woods and see if she has come." But when they came to the woods, they could find no birds or wild flowers. The cold north wind still roared through the branches of the trees. The children were sad because =Spring had not come, and they went home. But =Spring did come at last, and the north wind no longer roared through the branches of the trees. The birds began building their nests, the wild flowers were peeping out of the ground, and tiny new leaves were on the trees. "Where are the children," asked =Spring? "They always come to play with the birds and flowers and animals." "They came a few weeks ago," said the chickadee. "They saw that you were not here, and so they went home." "Aren't they coming back soon," asked the wild flowers? "Our pretty colors will not last many days longer." The rabbits and squirrels said, "We love the children. We like to peep out from our holes and watch them."