Pepper & Salt Part 15

OVERCONFIDENCE

A peac.o.c.k sat on ye garden wall (See picture here to ye right), An ye folk came crowding-great and small For it chanced that none in ye town at all Had ever seen such a sight If you'd have been there perhaps you'd have heard Ye folk talk thus, as they looked at ye bird:

"O crickety!--Law!-- O jimmeny me!-- I never yet saw!-- Who ever did see Such a beautiful sight in the world before, Since ye animals marched from ye old ark door?

O! Look at ye spots In his tail! And ye lots Of green and of blue in his beautiful wings!

I'd give a new shilling to know if he sings!"

Ye peac.o.c.k says, "Surely, they'll greatly rejoice To hear but a touch of my delicate voice."

(_Sings._)

"O dear! O dear!-- O stop it!--O do!-- We never did hear Such a hullballoo!

'Tis worse than ye noise that ye carpenters make When they sharpen their saws!--Now, for charity's sake, Give over this squalling, And catermawalling!"

Cried all ye good people who chanced to be near; Each thrusting a finger-tip into each ear.

You see ye poor dunce had attempted to shine In a way that was out of his natural line.

H. Pyle.

[Ill.u.s.tration: THE FORCE OF NEED. This page has the poem on one side, with the lady gazing up into the tree with the robin, and the lady warm in a house and robin outside in the snow at the bottom of the page.]

THE FORCE OF NEED

"Hey, Robin! ho, Robin!

Singing on the tree, I will give you white bread, If you will come to me."

"Oh! the little breeze is singing To the nodding dairies white, And the tender gra.s.s is springing, And the sun is warm and bright; And my little mate is waiting In the budding hedge for me; So, on the whole, I'll not accept Your kindly courtesy."

"Hey, Robin! ho, Robin!

Now the north winds blow Wherefore do you come here, In the ice and snow?"

"The wind is raw, the flowers are dead, The frost is on the thorn, So I'll gladly take a crust of bread, And come where it is warm."

Oh, Children! little Children!

Have _you_ ever chanced to see One beg for crust that sneered at crumb In bright prosperity?

HP

[Ill.u.s.tration]

THE BIRD IN THE LINDEN TREE

Once there was a prince, and his name was John. One day his father said to him, "See, John; I am growing old, and after a while the time will come when I must go the way of everybody else. Now I would like to see you married before I leave you."

"Very well," said the Prince, for he always answered the King in seemly fashion; "and who shall it be?"

"Why not the Princess of the White Mountain?" said the old King.

"Why not, indeed?" said the young Prince, "only she is too short."

"Why not the Princess of the Blue Mountain?" said the old King.

"Why not, indeed?" said the young Prince, "only she is too tall."

"Why not the Princess of the Red Mountain?" said the old King.

"Why not, indeed?" said the young Prince, "only she is too dark."

"Then whom will you have?" said the old King.

"That I do not know," said the young Prince, "only this: that her brow shall be as white as milk, and her cheeks shall be as red as blood, and her eyes shall be as blue as the skies, and her hair shall be like spun gold."

"Then go and find her!" said the old King, in a huff, for his temper was as short as chopped flax. "And don't come back again till you've found her!" he bawled after the Prince as he went out to the door.

So the Prince went out into the wide world to find such a maiden as he spoke of--whose brow was as white as milk, whose cheeks were as red as blood, whose eyes were as blue as the skies, and whose hair was like spun gold--and he would have to travel a long distance to find such a one nowadays, would he not?

So off he went, tramp! tramp! tramp! till his shoes were dusty and his clothes were gray. Nothing was in his wallet but a lump of brown bread and a cold sausage, for he had gone out into the world in haste, as many a one has done before and since his day.

So he went along, tramp! tramp! tramp! and by-and-by he came to a place where three roads met, and there sat an old woman.

"Hui! hui! but I am hungry!" said the old woman.

Now the Prince was a good-hearted fellow, so he said to the old woman, "It is little I have, but such as it is you are welcome to it."

Thereupon he gave the old woman the lump of brown bread and the cold sausage that was in his wallet, and the old woman ate it up at a bite.

"Hui! hui! but I am cold!" said she.

"It is little that I have, but such as it is you are welcome to it,"

said the Prince, and he gave the old woman the dusty coat off his back.

After that he had nothing more to give her.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Ye King Prince John]

"One does not give something for nothing," said the old woman, so she began fumbling about in her pocket until she found an old rusty key. And the best part of the key was, that whenever one looked through the ring of it, one saw everything just as it really was and not as it seemed to be.

Who would not give his dinner and the coat off his back for such a key?

After that the Prince stepped out again, right foot foremost, tramp!

tramp! tramp! until evening had come, and he felt as hungry as one is like to do when one goes without one's dinner. At last he came to a dark forest, and to a gray castle that stood just in the middle of it. This castle belonged to a great, ugly troll, though the Prince knew nothing of that.

"Now I shall have something to eat," said he, and he opened the door of the castle and went in.

Only one person was within, and that was a maiden; but she was as black from head to foot as Fritz the charcoal burner. The Prince had never seen the like of her in all of his life before, so he drew the rusty key out of his pocket and took a peep at her through the ring of it, to see what manner of body she really was.