Story Hour Readers Part 11

Dark brown is the river, Golden is the sand, It flows along forever, With trees on either hand.

Green leaves a-floating, Castles of the foam, Boats of mine a-boating-- Where will all come home?

On goes the river And out past the mill, Away down the valley, Away down the hill;

Away down the river, A hundred miles or more; Other little children Shall bring my boats ash.o.r.e.

ROBERT LOUIS STEVENSON.

WHY THE SEA IS SALT

Long ago, there were two brothers, one rich and one poor. The Rich Brother was stingy.

It was winter. The wind howled down the chimney, and the snow almost covered the hut in which the Poor Brother lived.

"We cannot starve," said the Poor Brother to his wife. "I will ask my brother to help us."

Now it annoyed the Rich Brother to have the Poor Brother ask for help.

When the Poor Brother asked for bread, the Rich Brother said angrily, "Here, take this ham and go to the dwarfs. They will boil it for you."

So the Poor Brother started out, with the ham under his arm, to find the home of the dwarfs. He trudged on through the snow until he saw seven queer little dwarfs rolling a huge s...o...b..ll, at the foot of a hill.

The dwarfs paid no attention to the Poor Brother, but kept on rolling the s...o...b..ll, which grew larger and larger each moment, as they sang,

"Behind the door The Mill you'll find, But snow, the Mill Will never grind.

We'll gather snow, And still more snow, Then roll it down To cool Below."

"Ha, ha, ha!" laughed the Chief Dwarf. "We have snow enough here to put out a dozen fires. Come, brothers, let us roll the s...o...b..ll Below!"

"Heave ho! Heave ho!" cried the other six dwarfs.

In the twinkling of an eye, the seven little dwarfs had rolled the s...o...b..ll through an entrance in the side of the hill.

Down, down, the s...o...b..ll rolled, until it reached the place where the fires burned.

Then sizzle, sizzle, came the hot steam pouring out of the entrance.

All this time the Poor Brother had stood watching the seven dwarfs, and saying not a word. But suddenly he thought, "If I do not go Below at once, there will be no fire left to boil my ham."

So the Poor Brother groped his way through the steam and the smoke, and at last he found his way into the home of the seven dwarfs.

It certainly was a very queer place! There were great fires burning on every side. Although the huge s...o...b..ll had cooled the air, it had not quenched the fires.

The Chief Dwarf was stirring some fat that was boiling in a kettle. When he saw the Poor Brother standing before him with the ham under his arm, he cried, "Ho, ho! Who comes here?"

Before the Poor Brother could answer, the seven little dwarfs had crowded around him, teasing for the ham. It was many a day since they had tasted ham, and they were very fond of it.

"What will you give me for the ham?" asked the Poor Brother.

"We have neither silver nor gold," said the dwarfs, "but we will give you the Mill that stands behind the door."

"Of what use would the Mill be to me? I am hungry and have come to boil the ham," said the Poor Brother.

"It is a wonderful Mill," the Chief Dwarf replied. "It will grind anything in the world that you might wish, excepting snow and ham. I will show you how to use it."

The Poor Brother agreed to give the ham in exchange for the Mill, and the Chief Dwarf told him how to use it.

The dwarf said, "When you wish the Mill to grind, use these words:

Grind, quickly grind, little Mill, Grind--with a right good will!

"When you wish the Mill to stop grinding, you must say,

Halt, halt, little Mill!

The Mill will obey you."

Taking the little Mill under his arm, the Poor Brother climbed up and up, until he came to the entrance in the side of the hill. Then he trudged home again through the snow.

When he arrived in front of the hut, he put the little Mill down on the snow, and said at once,

"Grind, quickly grind, little Mill, Grind a HOUSE--with a right good will!"

The little Mill ground and ground, until there stood, in place of the hut, the finest house in the world. It had fine large windows and broad stairways, and the house was furnished from garret to cellar.

By spring, the Mill had ground out the last article that was needed for the house, and the Poor Brother cried,

"Halt, halt, little Mill!"

The Mill obeyed him.

Then the Poor Brother placed the Mill in the barnyard and told it to grind horses, cows, woolly sheep, and fat little pigs.

When he told it to halt, the Mill stopped grinding.

The Poor Brother carried the Mill to the fields and commanded it to grind rich crops of wheat, oats, barley, and corn.

Then he took the Mill into the house and asked it to grind fine clothing for his wife and his daughters, and to keep all the cupboards filled with good things to eat.

At last the Poor Brother had everything that he wanted. He placed the Mill behind the kitchen door and sat down, with his wife and daughters, to eat the choicest food he had ever tasted.

The Rich Brother heard about all the strange things that had happened, and he went to visit the Poor Brother.