took his pen. As he touched the pen, it was changed into gold. He
wrote; and, as he touched the paper, it was changed into gold. He
went to the door and opened it; and the door was changed into gold.
He took his hat; as he touched it, the hat was changed into gold.
He went into the gar- den to see the flowers. He saw a beautiful
rose. He put out his hand to take it. As he touched it, the rose
was changed into gold. He put his hand on a tree and the tree was
changed into gold.
Midas wanted to eat.
He went into the hall. He called a servant.
"Bring me food," he said.
The servant brought food. Midas put out his hand to take the
food. As he touched the food, it was changed into gold. He could
not eat the food.
"Bring me more food," said Midas.
The servant brought more food. Midas touched it, and it was
changed into gold. He could not eat it.
Midas drank some water. The water was changed into gold. He
could not drink it.
" How shall I eat? How shall I drink?" said Midas. "If I cannot
eat and drink, I shall die!"
He stood up. He had eaten nothing. He had drunk nothing.
"I will go into the garden," he said, "I will go and make more
golden flowers."
Then the little girl came into the hall.
"Oh, father!" she cried, "our beautiful roses have been killed.
Who has killed our roses?"
Midas said, "The roses have been changed to gold, my child,
gold is more beautiful than flowers."
The little girl cried.
"Do not cry my child," said Midas. "Come, we will change some
more flowers to gold. We will change all the flowers to gold."
"Oh, father! give me back my flowers," cried the little girl.
"Go back to the garden. Change the flowers back."
"Do not cry, little girl," said Midas. He took her in his arms.
He put his hand on her head. "Do not cry, my child. Do not cry any
more. I will change the gold back into flowers."
She did not cry any more.
"Father loves you," said Midas. "I love you as much as I love
gold. Soon you will be a big girl. When you are a big girl, you
will love gold as much as I do."
She was not crying.
She said nothing. She could not say anything. As soon as Midas
touched her, she was changed into gold.
Midas looked at his child. He saw what he had done. As soon
as he saw what he had done he cried out, "Help! Help! Oh, what have
I done! I have killed my little girl. Help!"
The servants came running into the hall. They saw what Midas
had done. They saw the little girl. She was made of gold.
"We will go away from here. The King is a magician!" they cried.
"He changes everything to gold. He has killed his child and changed
her to gold. He 'II kill us and change us to gold. We will not work
for him any more." Then they ran away.
There was no one in the King's house. Midas sat there, with
his dead child.
He went out and changed more things to gold. He made all the
ducks and hens gold, and the donkey in the field was golden. Then
he went and looked at the cows. He touched one cow and it was changed
to gold. "I will make them all golden. I will have nice golden cows."
He changed all the cows to gold.
"I shall get no milk," he said. "But the milk becomes gold as
soon as I touch it. I do not want any milk."
Soon he came back. He looked at his little girl.
He looked up at the sky.
The sun was going down, changing the sky to gold. Gold! gold!
—all gold.
Then Midas went out into the garden and cried.
Dionysius came to Midas as he sat crying in the garden. He stood
before him.
"Are you happy now, 0 King?" said the God.
"No," said the King. "I was happy before. I was happy before
you came. But now I am very unhappy."
"But you have much gold now. Why are you not happy? No one has
as much gold as you have now. You said that nothing was as beautiful
as gold."
"I do not want it!" cried Midas. "I do not want gold. I want
my little girl back. Give me back my little girl! Give me back my
flowers. Take away all this gold and give me back the things which
I love."
"Go to the river," said Dionysius. "Jump into the water, and
you will be as before. Put water on all the things which you have
changed to gold, and they 'II be as before."
Then Dionysius went away. He went up into the sky.
Midas ran down to the river. He jumped into the water. Then
he came out of the water. He put his hand on a stone. The stone
was not changed to gold.
Then he brought a pot. He filled the pot with water. He ran
with the pot full of water, and came to the hall. He threw the water
on his little girl. She changed. She opened her eyes.
"Oh!" she cried, "was I asleep?"
She ran into the garden.
" Father," she cried, " you did not change the flowers back.
They are all dead and golden. Every flower is dead. Come! Come and
give me back my flowers. And, oh! look at the golden cows!"
"Come with me," said Midas, "and we will bring back the
flowers."
Then Midas and his little girl ran into the garden with pots
full of water from the river. As they ran, they changed everything
back. They changed the flowers and the trees and the birds, and
the hens and the ducks and the cows. Then they ran into the house
and they changed the tables and doors and pen and paper. And they
changed Midas' hat.
"Do you not love gold any more?" asked the little girl, as they
sat in the hall and ate.
"No," said Midas. "I love the trees and the flowers and the
birds--and you."
Mr. Rabbit Kills a Wolf
One day all the beasts of the forest came to one place. All
the big beasts came, and all the little beasts came. There were
horses and cows and rabbits and foxes and ducks and mice and birds,
and all the other living things. They were very afraid. For a great
big wolf had come to the forest; and the great big wolf had said,
"I shall kill you all if you do not give me food three times every
day."
"What shall we do?" said Mrs. Duck: "what shall we do?"
*Whatever shall we do?" said Mr. Fox.
*What shall we do?" said all the beasts.
* I know what we must do," said Mr. Rabbit, looking very big;
'we must kill this Mr. Wolf. ---And I shall do it." Then he walked
away along the road to Mr. Wolf's house. All the beasts looked at
him.
" What is he going to do?" said Mrs. Duck. "What is he going
to do?"
As Mr. Rabbit went along the road he saw a big hole in a field.
The hole was full of water.
Then Mr. Rabbit went on and came to a river. He jumped into
the water; then he walked through some dust; then he jumped into
the water; then he walked in the dust. So he looked a very poor,
ugly little rabbit, covered with water and dust.
At last Mr. Rabbit came to Mr. Wolf's house. "Who are you? "said
Mr. Wolf.
"Please, I am your food for today."
" You! You ugly little beast! Tell them to send me a big fat
cow, or a horse, or a hundred fat ducks."
"Please," said Mr. Rabbit, "the other wolf wants all the good
food. So we have sent him all the cows and the horses and ducks.
We must give them to him, because he is bigger and braver than you
are."
"Oh, is he?" cried Mr. Wolf. "We shall soon see if he is! Come
with me and show me where he lives."
Then Mr. Rabbit led Mr. Wolf to the hole in the field. "He is
down there," said Mr. Rabbit. "Do not go near him or he will kill
you." Mr. Wolf went to the side of the hole and looked down; he
saw his own angry face in the water. He thought that it was the
face of another wolf looking up at him. He jumped down into the
hole, to kill the other wolf. When he had jumped down into the hole,
he fell into the water; and he could not get out.
Mr. Rabbit went back to the other beasts. "It is not hard to
kill a wolf, he said, "if you know how to do it."
Jack and the Bean Plant
I
Once there was a poor woman. She had one son, whose name was
Jack. Jack had no father; a giant had killed him. Jack's mother
had one cow, whose milk they sold. They had no money but the money
which they got for the milk.
One day the cow gave no more milk. So they had no milk which
they could sell; and they had no money with which to get food. Then
the woman said, "Which shall we sell, the house or the cow? — We
will sell the cow, and we will get a field with the money which
we get for the cow." She called Jack and said to him, "Take the
cow and sell her. She is a very good cow: do not take too little
money for her."
So Jack took the cow and went down the lane, leading the cow.
As he went down the lane Jack saw a man. The man stood and waited;
and when Jack came near he said, "That is a good cow: whose cow
is it?"
Jack said, "It is my mother's cow."
"Where are you going with the cow?" asked the man. "I am taking
the cow to sell her," said Jack.
The man said, "Will you sell the cow to me?"
"What will you give me for her?" asked Jack.
"I will give you some beans," said the man. "I do not want
beans," said Jack. "I want money."
"I have no money," said the man, "but I have some very good
beans."
Jack said, "If I get beans, I can sell the beans for money."
So he asked, "How many beans will you give me for the cow?"
The man showed six beans in his hand. He said, See, I have these
six beans: they are very good beans." He put them in Jack's hand.
Jack had never seen beans like those. They were very beautiful;
they looked like gold. He said, "I will sell you the cow for these
beans. Give me the beans, and take the cow."
So the man gave Jack the beans, and took the cow. Jack went
home with the six beans in his hand.
Jack's mother was working in the garden. She looked up and said,
"You have come back very soon. Why have you come back so soon?"
The went into the house.
"I have sold the cow," said Jack.
"Did you get much money for her?" asked his mother.
"I did not sell the cow for money," said Jack; 'but I got some
very good things for her. See."
And Jack showed his mother the beans.
"What are these?" said his mother.
"Beans," said Jack.
"What beans?" said his mother.
"Beans," said Jack.
"What beans?" said his mother.
"The beans which I got for the cow," said Jack.
"Beans!" she cried, "Beans! Six little beans for my beautiful
cow?"
She was very angry. "I never heard anything like it!" she cried.
"You have taken six little beans for my beautiful cow! We shall
get no money for these beans. We have no money at all, and we have
no food at all to eat. Soon you will see what you have done: be-
cause you will have nothing at all to eat tonight; and there will
be no food on the next day, or on the next day after that."
She threw the beans out of the window. "That is what I do with
your good-for-nothing beans," she cried. "Go to bed, you good-
for-nothing boy."
Jack went to bed. He was sad because he had made his mother
angry. And he was sad because he had got no food to eat; and he
was sad because the
beautiful cow was gone.… He cried a little. But he soon fell
asleep.
Next day, when Jack awoke, he said, "I will find those golden
beans. My mother threw them into the garden."
He went to the window and looked out into the garden.
The six beans had grown into a big plant; the plant had grown
up and up. The top of the plant had grown far up into the sky. Jack
could not see the top.
He said, "I will go up to the top of the plant; I want to see
what there is in the sky."
So Jack went up the bean plant. He went up and up; he looked
down and saw the tops of the trees and the red tops of the houses.
He saw his mother's house; it looked very little because he was
so far up in the sky. But he had not come to the top of the bean
plant.
He went up and up; and then he came to the sky at the top. He
was up in the sky.
Ⅱ
In front of Jack was a road. Jack went along the road and came
to a big house. He had no food when he went to 6ed, and he had no
food when he awoke; so he wanted some food to eat. He said, "I think
they will give me some food at this big house." So he went to the
door of the house and called.
A very big old woman opened the door. Jack thought, " She does
not look like a very good woman.
"What do you want?" said the old woman.
"I want some food," said Jack.
.come with me," said the old woman, "and I will give you
something to eat."
Jack thought, "She wants to catch me; but I will go with her
and see what there is in the house."
So he went with the old woman into the house. She gave him some
bread to eat and some milk to drink. Then she put him in a little
room, and said, "My man is a giant. He is coming just now. If you
go out of that little room, he will kill you."
The giant came into the house. He was very big. He had the body
of a dead cow in one hand and a tree in the other hand.… He came
into the room; he looked this way and that way; then he said,
"Fee, Fi, Fo, Foy!
I smell the smell of a little boy!
Be he alive, or be he dead,
I will eat his body with my bread!"
The glant's wife said, "There is a little boy in that room.
I do not want him to hear what I say. Do not eat him today; he is
not fat now: but after two or three days he will be fat, and then
I will cook him for you.
Then the giant sat down at the table; his wife brought food
and set it on the table, and the giant ate it. When he had eaten
he said, "Bring me my money." She brought two boxes full of gold,
and put them on the table near him. He opened one of the boxes and
looked to see how much old there was in it. Then he shut his eyes,
and very soon the giant was asleep. The giant's wife soon fell
asleep too.
When the giant and his wife were asleep, Jack opened the door
of the little room and came out. As he went by the giant's table
he took one of the boxes of gold. Then he went out of the door and
ran along the road. He come to the top of the bean plant. Then he
threw the box down. Then he went down the tree. The box had fallen
at the foot of the bean plant. He took it and went into the house.
His mother was working at the table. He put the box down on
the table, and opened it, and said, "See, mother, this is one of
the things that my beans have brought us. And they will soon bring