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Granny's Wonderful Chair (Dramatic Reading) - Frances Browne · Children’s Stories Library

• 0:01
  Speaker 1: Granny's Wonderful Chair by Francis Brown. This is LibriVox recording.
• 0:06
  Speaker 1: All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain. For more
• 0:09
  Speaker 1: information or to volunteer, please visit LibriVox dot org. Stories
• 0:17
  Speaker 1: Old and New a small chosen library is like a
• 0:21
  Speaker 1: walled garden where a child may safely play. In that
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  Speaker 1: charmed seclusion. The love of books, like the love of flowers,
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  Speaker 1: grows of itself. If the reading habit is to be acquired.
• 0:35
  Speaker 1: The child ought from the first to be given real books,
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  Speaker 1: which may be handled with pleasure and kept with pride,
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  Speaker 1: books containing literature suited to its own age. This volume
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  Speaker 1: belongs to a series of stories Old and New, which
• 0:53
  Speaker 1: has been prepared specially for children. The books have been
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  Speaker 1: carefully chosen so as to include a long with many
• 1:00
  Speaker 1: charming stories by the best children's authors of today, a
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  Speaker 1: due proportion of those older tales which never grow old.
• 1:10
  Speaker 1: To secure simplicity and write gradation, the text has been
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  Speaker 1: prepared to suit the different ages of readers. Care has
• 1:17
  Speaker 1: been given to the illustration, print and binding of the series,
• 1:21
  Speaker 1: for it is believed that this is the best way
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  Speaker 1: to secure from the children that careful handling of the volumes,
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  Speaker 1: which is the mark of the true book lover. Chapter one.
• 1:33
  Speaker 1: Introductory readers for chapter one Narrator read by Lenett Geisel.
• 1:43
  Speaker 2: Snowflower read by Cheyenne Dunnel.
• 1:46
  Speaker 3: Dame Frosty Face Grandmother read by Joyce Couch.
• 1:51
  Speaker 4: Woodcutter read by Glenn Prevetera.
• 1:55
  Speaker 5: King Winwelt read by Ken Pelt.
• 2:00
  Speaker 6: Story Telling Chair read by Phil Schaevert.
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  Speaker 1: In an old time, long ago, when the fairies were
• 2:07
  Speaker 1: in the world, there lived a little girl, so very
• 2:11
  Speaker 1: fair and pleasant of look that they called her Snowflower.
• 2:16
  Speaker 1: This girl was good as well as pretty. No one
• 2:20
  Speaker 1: had ever seen her frown or heard her say a
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  Speaker 1: cross word, and young and old were glad when they
• 2:27
  Speaker 1: saw her coming. Snowflower had no relation in the world
• 2:31
  Speaker 1: but a very old grandmother called Dame Frosty Face. People
• 2:36
  Speaker 1: did not like her quite so well as her granddaughter,
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  Speaker 1: for she was cross enough at times, though always kind
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  Speaker 1: to Snowflower. They lived together, and a little cottage built
• 2:47
  Speaker 1: of peat and thatched with reeds, on the edge of
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  Speaker 1: a great forest. Tall trees sheltered its back from the
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  Speaker 1: north wind, and the midday sun made its front warm.
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  Speaker 1: And cheery. Swallows built in the eaves and daisies grew
• 3:04
  Speaker 1: thick at the door. But there was none in all
• 3:07
  Speaker 1: that country poorer than Snowflower. In her grandmother, a cat
• 3:12
  Speaker 1: and two hens were all their live stock. Their bed
• 3:16
  Speaker 1: was dry grass, and the only good piece of furniture
• 3:20
  Speaker 1: in the cottage was a great armchair with wheels on
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  Speaker 1: its feet, a black velvet cushion, and many strange carvings
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  Speaker 1: of flowers and fairies on its dark oaken back. On
• 3:33
  Speaker 1: that chair, Dame Frosty Face set spinning from morning till
• 3:38
  Speaker 1: night to keep herself and her granddaughter. While Snowflower gathered
• 3:43
  Speaker 1: sticks for the fire, looked after the hens and the cat,
• 3:47
  Speaker 1: and did whatever else her grandmother bade her. There was
• 3:50
  Speaker 1: nobody in that part of the country could spin such
• 3:53
  Speaker 1: fine yarn as Dame Frosty Face. But she spun very slowly.
• 3:58
  Speaker 1: Her wheel was as old as herself, and far more
• 4:02
  Speaker 1: worn out. Indeed, the wonder was that it did not
• 4:07
  Speaker 1: fall to pieces. So what the Dame earned was very little,
• 4:12
  Speaker 1: and their living was scanty. Snowflower, however, felt no want
• 4:18
  Speaker 1: of good dinners or fine clothes. Every evening, when the
• 4:22
  Speaker 1: fire was heaped with the sticks she had gathered till
• 4:25
  Speaker 1: it blazed and crackled up the cottage chimney. Dame Frosty
• 4:29
  Speaker 1: Face set aside her wheel and told her a new story.
• 4:34
  Speaker 1: Often did the little girl wonder where her grandmother had
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  Speaker 1: gathered so many stories, But she soon learned that one
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  Speaker 1: sunny morning, at the time of the coming of the swallows,
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  Speaker 1: the Dame rose up, put on the gray hooding cloak
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  Speaker 1: in which she carried her yarn to the fairs, and said.
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  Speaker 3: My child, I am going on a long journey an
• 5:00
  Speaker 3: aunt of mine, who lives far in the north country.
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  Speaker 3: I cannot take you with me, because my aunt is
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  Speaker 3: the crossest woman alive and never liked young people. But
• 5:12
  Speaker 3: the hens will lay eggs for you, and there is
• 5:15
  Speaker 3: barley meal in the barrel. And as you have been
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  Speaker 3: a good girl, I'll tell you what to do. When
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  Speaker 3: you feel lonely. Lay your head gently down on the
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  Speaker 3: cushion of the arm chair, and say, chair of my grandmother,
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  Speaker 3: tell me a story. The chair was made by a
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  Speaker 3: clever fairy who lived in the forest when I was young,
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  Speaker 3: and she gave it to me because she knew nobody
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  Speaker 3: could keep what they got hold of better than I could. Remember,
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  Speaker 3: you must never ask for a story more than once
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  Speaker 3: in a day. If there is any need to travel,
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  Speaker 3: you have only to seat yourself in it and say,
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  Speaker 3: chair of my grandmother, take me such a way. It
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  Speaker 3: will carry you wherever you wish. But mind to oil
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  Speaker 3: the wheels before you set out, for I have sat
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  Speaker 3: on it these forty years in that same corner.
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  Speaker 1: Having said this, Dame Frosty Face set forth to see
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  Speaker 1: her aunt to the north country. Snowflower gathered wood for
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  Speaker 1: the fire and looked after the hens and cat as
• 6:13
  Speaker 1: she had always done. She baked herself a cake or
• 6:17
  Speaker 1: two of the barley meal, but when the evening came
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  Speaker 1: the cottage looked lonely. Then Snowflower remembered her grandmother's words,
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  Speaker 1: and laying her head gently down, she said.
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  Speaker 2: Care, my grandmother, tell me a story.
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  Speaker 1: Hardly were the words spoken, than a clear voice from
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  Speaker 1: under the velvet cushion began a new and most wonderful tale,
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  Speaker 1: which surprised Snowflower so much that she forgot to be afraid.
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  Speaker 1: After that, the good girl was lonely no more. Every
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  Speaker 1: morning she baked a barley cake, and every evening the
• 6:54
  Speaker 1: chair told her a new story. But she could never
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  Speaker 1: find out to whom the voice belonged, though Snowflowers showed
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  Speaker 1: her thanks by keeping bright the oaken back and dusting
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  Speaker 1: the velvet cushion till the chair looked as good as new.
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  Speaker 1: The swallows came and built in the eaves, and the
• 7:12
  Speaker 1: daisies grew thicker than ever at the door. But great
• 7:15
  Speaker 1: troubles fell upon Snowflower. In spite of all her care,
• 7:19
  Speaker 1: she forgot to clip the hen's wings, and they flew
• 7:22
  Speaker 1: away one morning to visit their friends, the pheasants, who
• 7:26
  Speaker 1: lived far in the forest. The cat went away to
• 7:29
  Speaker 1: see its friends. The barley meal was eaten up except
• 7:33
  Speaker 1: two handfuls, and Snowflower had often looked out in hope
• 7:38
  Speaker 1: of seeing the gray cloak. But Dame Frosty Face did
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  Speaker 1: not come back.
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  Speaker 2: My grandmother's stays.
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  Speaker 1: Long, said Snowflower to herself.
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  Speaker 2: And by and by there will be nothing left to eat.
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  Speaker 2: If I could get to her, perhaps you'd tell me
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  Speaker 2: what to do. Surely there's good new for me to travel.
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  Speaker 1: Next day, at sunrise, snow Flower oiled the wheels of
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  Speaker 1: the chair, baked a cake out of the last of
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  Speaker 1: the meal, took it in her lap by way of
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  Speaker 1: food for the journey, seated herself and said.
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  Speaker 2: Care of my grandmother, take me the way she went.
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  Speaker 1: At once the chair gave a creak and began to
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  Speaker 1: move out of the cottage and into the forest, the
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  Speaker 1: very way Dame Frosty Face had taken, where it rolled
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  Speaker 1: along at the rate of a coach and six Snowflower
• 8:31
  Speaker 1: was amazed at this way of traveling. But the chair
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  Speaker 1: never stopped nor stayed the whole summer day till as
• 8:38
  Speaker 1: the sun was setting, they came upon an open space
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  Speaker 1: where a hundred men were cutting down the tall trees
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  Speaker 1: with their axes. A hundred more were splitting them for firewood,
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  Speaker 1: and twenty men with horses and wagons were carrying the
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  Speaker 1: wood away.
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  Speaker 2: Oh, chair of my grandmother, stop.
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  Speaker 1: Said Snowflower, for she was tired and also wished to
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  Speaker 1: know what this might mean. The chair at once stood still,
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  Speaker 1: and Snowflower, seeing an old woodcutter who looked kind, stepped
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  Speaker 1: up to him and said.
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  Speaker 2: Good father, tell me why you cut all this wood.
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  Speaker 4: Where do you live?
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  Speaker 1: Replied the man, that you have.
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  Speaker 4: Not heard of the great feast which King Winwelf means
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  Speaker 4: to give on the birthday of his only daughter, Princess Griedoland.
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  Speaker 4: It will last for seven days. Everybody will be feasted,
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  Speaker 4: and this wood is to roast the oxen and the sheep,
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  Speaker 4: the geese and the turkeys, amongst whom there is great
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  Speaker 4: sorrow throughout the land.
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  Speaker 1: When Snowflower heard that, she could not help wishing to
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  Speaker 1: see and perhaps to share in such a noble feast,
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  Speaker 1: after living so long on barley cakes, so seating herself,
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  Speaker 1: she said.
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  Speaker 2: Dear my grandmother, take me quickly to the palace of
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  Speaker 2: King Winwelf.
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  Speaker 1: The words were hardly spoken when off the chair started
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  Speaker 1: through the trees and out of the forest, to the
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  Speaker 1: great surprise of the woodcutters, who, never having seen such
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  Speaker 1: a sight before, threw down their axes, left their wagons
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  Speaker 1: and went after Snowflower to the gates of a great
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  Speaker 1: and splendid city, having strong walls and high towers, and
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  Speaker 1: standing in the midst of a wide plain covered with
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  Speaker 1: corn fields, fruit gardens and villages. It was the richest
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  Speaker 1: city in all the land. People from every part of
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  Speaker 1: the land came there to buy and sell, and there
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  Speaker 1: was a saying that they had only to live seven
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  Speaker 1: years in it to make their fortunes rich. As they were. However,
• 10:40
  Speaker 1: Snowflower had never seen so many discontented, greedy faces as
• 10:46
  Speaker 1: looked out from the great shops, grand houses, and fine
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  Speaker 1: coaches when her chair rattled along the streets. Indeed, the
• 10:55
  Speaker 1: people of that city were not much thought of for
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  Speaker 1: either good nature or honesty. But it had not been
• 11:04
  Speaker 1: so when King Winweld was young, and he and his
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  Speaker 1: brother Prince Wisewiit governed the land. Prince Wisewit knew the
• 11:12
  Speaker 1: whole art of governing, the tempers of men and the
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  Speaker 1: powers of the stars. Moreover, he was a very clever man,
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  Speaker 1: and it was said of him that he could never
• 11:23
  Speaker 1: die or grow old. In his time, there was never
• 11:28
  Speaker 1: discontent nor sickness in the city. Strangers were kindly treated,
• 11:33
  Speaker 1: without price or questions. Then no one went to law
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  Speaker 1: against his neighbor, and no one locked his door at night.
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  Speaker 1: The fairies used to come there at May day, and
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  Speaker 1: Michael mass for they were Prince Wisewit's friends. All but
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  Speaker 1: one called Fortunetta, a short sighted but very cunning fairy
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  Speaker 1: who hated everybody wiser than herself, and above all the Prince,
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  Speaker 1: because she could never cheat him. There was peace and
• 12:05
  Speaker 1: pleasure for many a year in King Winwelth's city till
• 12:09
  Speaker 1: one day at midsummer, Prince Wisewit went alone to the
• 12:13
  Speaker 1: forest in search of a strange plant for his garden.
• 12:18
  Speaker 1: But he never came back. Though the King with all
• 12:21
  Speaker 1: his guards, looked for him far and near, no news
• 12:25
  Speaker 1: was ever heard of him. When his brother was gone,
• 12:29
  Speaker 1: King Winwealth grew lonely in his great palace, so he
• 12:33
  Speaker 1: married a princess called Wantall, and brought her home to
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  Speaker 1: be his queen. This princess was neither handsome nor pleasant.
• 12:42
  Speaker 1: People thought she must have gained the king's love by
• 12:45
  Speaker 1: the charms she worked, or her whole dowry was a
• 12:50
  Speaker 1: desert island with a huge pit in it that could
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  Speaker 1: never be filled. And she was so greedy that the
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  Speaker 1: more she got, the greedier she grew. In course of time,
• 13:01
  Speaker 1: the king and queen had an only daughter who was
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  Speaker 1: to be the heiress of all the kingdom. Her name
• 13:08
  Speaker 1: was the Princess Gridoland, and the whole city were at
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  Speaker 1: that time preparing to keep her birthday. Not that they
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  Speaker 1: cared much for the princess, who was very like her mother,
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  Speaker 1: both in looks and temper, but being King Winwell's only daughter,
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  Speaker 1: people came from far and near to the feast, and
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  Speaker 1: among them strangers and fairies who had not been there
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  Speaker 1: since the day of Prince Wisewit. There was great stir
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  Speaker 1: about the palace, a most noble building, so large that
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  Speaker 1: it had a room for every day of the year.
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  Speaker 1: All the floors were of beautiful dark wood, and all
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  Speaker 1: the roofs of silver, And there was such a large
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  Speaker 1: number of golden dishes used by the household, that five
• 13:52
  Speaker 1: hundred men kept guard night and day least any of
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  Speaker 1: them should be stolen. When these guards saw snow Flower
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  Speaker 1: in her chair, they ran one after the other to
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  Speaker 1: tell the king, for the like had never been seen
• 14:07
  Speaker 1: nor heard of in his kingdom, and all the court
• 14:10
  Speaker 1: crowded out to see the little maiden and her chair
• 14:13
  Speaker 1: that came of itself. When Snowflower saw the lords and
• 14:17
  Speaker 1: ladies in their fine robes and splendid jewels, she began
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  Speaker 1: to feel ashamed of her own bare feet and linen gown.
• 14:24
  Speaker 1: But at length, taking courage, she answered all their questions
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  Speaker 1: and told them everything about her wonderful chair. The Queen
• 14:33
  Speaker 1: and the Princess cared for nothing that was not guilt.
• 14:38
  Speaker 1: The people of the court had learned to do the same,
• 14:41
  Speaker 1: and all turned away in great scorn, except the old king, who,
• 14:47
  Speaker 1: thinking the chair might amuse him sometimes when he got
• 14:51
  Speaker 1: into low spirits, allowed Snowflower to stay and feast in
• 14:56
  Speaker 1: his worst kitchen. The poor girl was glad of any peace,
• 15:00
  Speaker 1: though nobody made her welcome. Even the servants looked down
• 15:04
  Speaker 1: upon her bare feet and linen gown. They would give
• 15:07
  Speaker 1: her chair no room, but in a dusty corner behind
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  Speaker 1: the back door, where Snowflower was told that she might
• 15:14
  Speaker 1: sleep at night and eat up the scraps the cook
• 15:17
  Speaker 1: threw away. That very day the feast began. It was
• 15:22
  Speaker 1: fine to see the great crowds of coaches and people
• 15:25
  Speaker 1: on foot and on horseback, who came to the palace
• 15:28
  Speaker 1: and filled every room according to their rank. Never had
• 15:32
  Speaker 1: Snowflowers seen such roasting and boiling. There was wine for
• 15:37
  Speaker 1: the lords and ale for the common people, music and
• 15:40
  Speaker 1: dancing of all kinds, and the best of gay dresses.
• 15:45
  Speaker 1: But with all the good cheer, there seemed little joy
• 15:49
  Speaker 1: and a great deal of ill humor in the palace.
• 15:53
  Speaker 1: Some of the guests thought they should have been feasted
• 15:56
  Speaker 1: in grander rooms. Others were vexed to see many finer
• 16:00
  Speaker 1: than themselves. All the servants were very displeased because they
• 16:04
  Speaker 1: did not get presents. There was somebody caught every hour
• 16:08
  Speaker 1: stealing the cups, and a great number of people were
• 16:11
  Speaker 1: always at the gates shouting for goods and lands which
• 16:15
  Speaker 1: Queen Wantall had taken from them. The guards were always
• 16:20
  Speaker 1: driving them away, but they came back again and could
• 16:23
  Speaker 1: be heard plainly in the highest hall. So it was
• 16:27
  Speaker 1: not wonderful that the old king's spirits were very low
• 16:30
  Speaker 1: that evening after supper. His page, who always stood behind him,
• 16:35
  Speaker 1: seeing this, reminded his Majesty of the little girl and
• 16:39
  Speaker 1: her chair.
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  Speaker 7: It is a good thought, said King Winwell, I have
• 16:44
  Speaker 7: not heard.
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  Speaker 5: A story this many a year. Bring the child and
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  Speaker 5: the chair at once.
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  Speaker 1: The page sent someone to the first kitchen, who told
• 16:54
  Speaker 1: the master cook. The master cook told the kitchen maid.
• 16:57
  Speaker 1: The kitchen maid told the dust boy, and he told
• 17:01
  Speaker 1: Snowflower to wash her face, rub up her chair, and
• 17:05
  Speaker 1: go to the highest hall. For the great King Winwealth
• 17:09
  Speaker 1: wished to hear a story. Nobody offered to help her.
• 17:13
  Speaker 1: But when Snowflower had made herself as smart as she
• 17:15
  Speaker 1: could with soap and water and rubbed the chair till
• 17:19
  Speaker 1: it looked as if dust had never fallen on it.
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  Speaker 1: She seated herself and said, dear.
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  Speaker 2: My grandmother, take me to the highest hall.
• 17:27
  Speaker 1: At once the chair marched in a grave and courtly
• 17:30
  Speaker 1: manner out of the kitchen, up the ground staircase, and
• 17:34
  Speaker 1: into the highest hall. The chief lords and ladies of
• 17:37
  Speaker 1: the land were feasting there, besides many fairies and noble
• 17:42
  Speaker 1: people from far off countries. There had never been such
• 17:46
  Speaker 1: company in the palace since the time of Prince Wisewit.
• 17:50
  Speaker 1: Nobody wore less than the finest satin. King Winwealth sat
• 17:54
  Speaker 1: in his ivory throne in a robe of purple velvet,
• 17:58
  Speaker 1: stiff with flowers of gold. The Queen set by his
• 18:02
  Speaker 1: side in a robe of silver cloth clasped with pearls.
• 18:07
  Speaker 1: But the Princess Gridaland was finer still, the feast being
• 18:12
  Speaker 1: in her honor, she wore a robe of cloth of
• 18:16
  Speaker 1: gold clasped with diamonds. Two waiting ladies in white satin
• 18:22
  Speaker 1: stood one on either side to hold her fan in
• 18:25
  Speaker 1: a handkerchief, and two pages in gold lace. Livery stood
• 18:31
  Speaker 1: behind her chair with all that. Princess Gridaland looked ugly
• 18:37
  Speaker 1: and spiteful She and her mother were angry to see
• 18:41
  Speaker 1: a barefooted girl in an old chair allowed to enter
• 18:45
  Speaker 1: the highest hall. The supper table was still covered with
• 18:48
  Speaker 1: golden dishes and the best of good things, but no
• 18:52
  Speaker 1: one offered snowflower a morsel. So, having made a humble
• 18:58
  Speaker 1: bow to the King, the Queen, the princess, and the
• 19:02
  Speaker 1: good company, most of whom hardly noticed her, the poor
• 19:06
  Speaker 1: little girl sat down upon the carpet, laid her head
• 19:09
  Speaker 1: on the velvet cushion, as she used to do in
• 19:12
  Speaker 1: the old cottage, and.
• 19:14
  Speaker 2: Said, here, my grandmother tell me a story.
• 19:17
  Speaker 1: Everybody was greatly surprised, even the angry Queen and the
• 19:22
  Speaker 1: spiteful Princess, when a clear voice from under the cushion said.
• 19:28
  Speaker 6: Listen to the story of a Christmas Cuckoo.
• 19:33
  Speaker 1: End of chapter one, Granny's Wonderful Chair by France Brown.
• 19:43
  Speaker 1: This is a LibriVox recording. All LibriVox recordings are in
• 19:47
  Speaker 1: the public domain. For more information or to volunteer, please
• 19:52
  Speaker 1: visit LibriVox dot org. Readers for chapter two narrator read
• 19:58
  Speaker 1: by Lenet Gaisl.
• 20:00
  Speaker 6: Story Telling Chair read by Phil Schenevert.
• 20:03
  Speaker 8: Cuckoo read by ken Felt brother Scrubb read by Matthew Reyese.
• 20:10
  Speaker 9: Brother Spare read by Peter Bishop.
• 20:13
  Speaker 10: Made Fairfeather read by Rashada.
• 20:16
  Speaker 3: Butter Tongue, Old Woman, wood Witch read by Joyce Couch.
• 20:21
  Speaker 11: Spy, son of Buttertungue read by Steve.
• 20:24
  Speaker 7: Bellgill Woodsman read by ken Felt.
• 20:30
  Speaker 1: Chapter two, The Christmas Cuckoo.
• 20:34
  Speaker 6: Once upon a time there stood in the midst of
• 20:36
  Speaker 6: a bleak moor in the North Country, a certain village.
• 20:40
  Speaker 6: All its people were poor, for their fields were barren,
• 20:44
  Speaker 6: and they had little trade. But the poorest of them
• 20:47
  Speaker 6: all were two brothers called Scrub and Spare. They were cobblers,
• 20:52
  Speaker 6: and had but one stall between them. It was a
• 20:56
  Speaker 6: hut built of clay and wattles. The door it was
• 21:00
  Speaker 6: low and always open, for there was no window, The
• 21:03
  Speaker 6: roof did not entirely keep out the rain, and the
• 21:06
  Speaker 6: only thing with any look of comfort about it was
• 21:08
  Speaker 6: a wide hearth, for which the brothers could never find
• 21:11
  Speaker 6: wood enough to make a good fire. There they worked
• 21:14
  Speaker 6: in most brotherly friendship, though the people did not give
• 21:17
  Speaker 6: them very many shoes to make or mend. The people
• 21:21
  Speaker 6: of that village did not need many shoes, and better
• 21:24
  Speaker 6: cobblers than Scrub and Spare might be found spiteful. People
• 21:29
  Speaker 6: said there were no shoes so bad that they would
• 21:32
  Speaker 6: not be worse for their mending. Nevertheless, Scrub and Spare
• 21:36
  Speaker 6: managed to live by means of their own trade, a
• 21:39
  Speaker 6: small barley field and a cottage garden, till a new
• 21:43
  Speaker 6: cobbler arrived in the village. He had lived in the
• 21:46
  Speaker 6: chief city of the kingdom, and by his own account,
• 21:49
  Speaker 6: cobbled for the Queen and the princesses. His awls were
• 21:53
  Speaker 6: sharp and his lasts were new. He set up his
• 21:56
  Speaker 6: stall in a neat cottage with two windows. The villagers
• 22:00
  Speaker 6: soon found out that one patch of his would outwear
• 22:04
  Speaker 6: two of the brothers. In short all the mending left
• 22:07
  Speaker 6: Scrub and Spare and went to the new cobbler. The
• 22:10
  Speaker 6: season had been wet and cold, Their barley did not
• 22:14
  Speaker 6: ripen well, and the cabbages never half closed in the garden.
• 22:19
  Speaker 6: So the brothers were poor that winter, and when Christmas
• 22:22
  Speaker 6: came they had nothing to feast on but a barley loaf,
• 22:25
  Speaker 6: a piece of musty bacon, and some small beer of
• 22:29
  Speaker 6: their own brewing. Worse than that, the snow was very deep,
• 22:33
  Speaker 6: and they could get no firewood. Their hut stood at
• 22:37
  Speaker 6: the end of the village. Beyond it spread the bleak moor,
• 22:41
  Speaker 6: now all white and silent, But that more had once
• 22:45
  Speaker 6: been a forest. Great roots of old trees were still
• 22:49
  Speaker 6: to be found in it, loosened from the soil and
• 22:51
  Speaker 6: laid bare by the winds and rains. One of these,
• 22:55
  Speaker 6: a rough, heavy log, lay close to their door, the
• 22:58
  Speaker 6: half of it above the snow. Spare said to his brother.
• 23:01
  Speaker 9: Shall we sit here cold on Christmas Day while the
• 23:04
  Speaker 9: great root lies yonder? Let us chop it up for firewood.
• 23:08
  Speaker 9: The work will make us warm.
• 23:10
  Speaker 8: No, said Scrub, It's not right to chop wood on Christmas. Besides,
• 23:14
  Speaker 8: that root is too hard to be cut with any.
• 23:16
  Speaker 9: Axe, hard or not. We must have a fire, replied Spare, come, brother,
• 23:21
  Speaker 9: help me with it. Poor as we are, there is
• 23:24
  Speaker 9: nobody in the village will have such a yule loggers ours.
• 23:27
  Speaker 6: Scrub liked to be a little grand sometimes, and in
• 23:31
  Speaker 6: hopes of having a fine yule log, both brothers strove
• 23:35
  Speaker 6: with all their might till between pulling and pushing the
• 23:39
  Speaker 6: great old root was safe on the hearth, and soon
• 23:43
  Speaker 6: began to crackle and blaze with the red embers. In
• 23:46
  Speaker 6: high glee. The cobblers sat down to their beer and bacon.
• 23:49
  Speaker 6: The door was shut, for there was nothing but cold
• 23:52
  Speaker 6: moonlight and snow outside. But the hut, strewn with fir
• 23:56
  Speaker 6: branches and decked with holly, looked cheerful as the ruddy
• 24:00
  Speaker 6: blaze flared up and made their hearts glad.
• 24:03
  Speaker 9: Long life and good fortune to ourselves. Brother said Spare,
• 24:07
  Speaker 9: I hope you will drink that toast, and may we
• 24:09
  Speaker 9: never have a worse fire on Christmas. But what is that?
• 24:13
  Speaker 6: Spare sat down the drinking horn, and the brothers listened
• 24:17
  Speaker 6: in great surprise, for out of the blazing root.
• 24:20
  Speaker 5: They heard cuckoo, cuckoo.
• 24:22
  Speaker 6: As plain as ever the spring bird's voice came over
• 24:26
  Speaker 6: the moor on a May morn.
• 24:27
  Speaker 8: It is something bad.
• 24:29
  Speaker 6: Said Scrub, very much frightened, maybe not, said Spare, And
• 24:34
  Speaker 6: out of the deep hole at the side which the
• 24:36
  Speaker 6: fire had not reached, flew a large gray cuckoo and
• 24:40
  Speaker 6: alighted on the table before them. Much as the cobblers
• 24:44
  Speaker 6: had been surprised at first, they were still more so
• 24:47
  Speaker 6: when the bird began to speak.
• 24:49
  Speaker 7: Good gentlemen, said the cuckoo. What season is this?
• 24:53
  Speaker 6: It's Christmas, replied Spear.
• 24:55
  Speaker 7: But then a merry Christmas to you, said the cuckoo.
• 24:58
  Speaker 7: I went to sleep in the hollow of that old
• 25:01
  Speaker 7: root last summer and never woke till the heat of
• 25:04
  Speaker 7: your fire made me think it was summer again. But
• 25:07
  Speaker 7: now since you have burned my lodging, let me stay
• 25:11
  Speaker 7: in your hut till the spring comes round. I only
• 25:14
  Speaker 7: want a hole to sleep in, And when I go
• 25:17
  Speaker 7: on my travels next summer, you may be sure I
• 25:20
  Speaker 7: will bring you some gift for your trouble.
• 25:23
  Speaker 6: Stay and welcome, said Spare, while Scrub sat wondering if
• 25:27
  Speaker 6: it were something bad or not. I'll make you a good,
• 25:30
  Speaker 6: warm hole in the thatch, but you must be hungry
• 25:33
  Speaker 6: after that long sleep. There is a slice of body bread.
• 25:37
  Speaker 6: Come help us to keep Christmas. The cuckoo ate up
• 25:40
  Speaker 6: the slice, drank some water from the brown jug for
• 25:44
  Speaker 6: it would take no beer, and flew into a snug
• 25:47
  Speaker 6: hole which Spare scooped for it in the thatch of
• 25:50
  Speaker 6: the hut. Scrub said he was afraid the bird wouldn't
• 25:52
  Speaker 6: be lucky, but as it slept on and the days passed,
• 25:56
  Speaker 6: he forgot his fears. So the snow melted, the heavy
• 26:00
  Speaker 6: rains came, the cold grew less and the days became longer.
• 26:04
  Speaker 6: One sunny morning, the brothers were awakened by the cuckoo,
• 26:08
  Speaker 6: shouting its own cry to let them know the spring
• 26:11
  Speaker 6: had come. Now, said the bird.
• 26:14
  Speaker 7: I am going on my travels over the world to
• 26:16
  Speaker 7: tell men of the spring. There is no country where
• 26:20
  Speaker 7: trees bud or flowers bloom that I will not cry
• 26:23
  Speaker 7: in before the year goes round. Give me another slice
• 26:27
  Speaker 7: of bread to keep me on my journey, and tell
• 26:30
  Speaker 7: me what gift I shall bring you at the end
• 26:32
  Speaker 7: of twelve months.
• 26:34
  Speaker 6: Scrub would have been angry with his brother for cutting
• 26:36
  Speaker 6: so large a slice, their store of barley meal being low,
• 26:41
  Speaker 6: But his mind was so taken up with what present
• 26:44
  Speaker 6: it would be best for him to ask at length.
• 26:47
  Speaker 6: A lucky thought struck him.
• 26:48
  Speaker 8: Good Master Cuckoo said he, if a great traveler who
• 26:51
  Speaker 8: sees all the world like you, could know of any
• 26:54
  Speaker 8: place where diamonds or pearls were to be found. One
• 26:57
  Speaker 8: of a fairly large size brought in your bee would
• 27:00
  Speaker 8: help such poor men as my brother and me to
• 27:03
  Speaker 8: get something better than barley bread to give you the
• 27:05
  Speaker 8: next time you come.
• 27:06
  Speaker 7: I know nothing of diamonds or pearls, said the cuckoo.
• 27:10
  Speaker 7: They are in the hearts of rocks and the sands
• 27:12
  Speaker 7: of rivers. I know only of that which grows on
• 27:16
  Speaker 7: the earth. But there are two trees close by the
• 27:20
  Speaker 7: well that lies at the end of the world. One
• 27:23
  Speaker 7: of them is called the golden tree, for its leaves
• 27:26
  Speaker 7: are all of beaten gold. Every winter they fall into
• 27:30
  Speaker 7: the well with a sound like that of scattered gold,
• 27:33
  Speaker 7: and I know not what becomes of them. As for
• 27:37
  Speaker 7: the other, it is always green like a laurel. Some
• 27:42
  Speaker 7: call it the wise and some the merry tree. Its
• 27:46
  Speaker 7: leaves never fall, but they that get one of them
• 27:50
  Speaker 7: keep a cheerful heart in spite of all troubles, and
• 27:53
  Speaker 7: can make themselves as merry in a hut as in
• 27:56
  Speaker 7: a palace.
• 27:57
  Speaker 9: Good Master Cuckoo, bring me a leaf off that tree,
• 28:00
  Speaker 9: cried Spare.
• 28:01
  Speaker 8: Now, brother, don't be a fool, said Scrub, think of
• 28:05
  Speaker 8: the leaves of gold. Dear Master Cuckoo, bring me one
• 28:08
  Speaker 8: of them.
• 28:09
  Speaker 6: Before another word could be said, the cuckoo had flown
• 28:13
  Speaker 6: out of the open door and was shouting its spring
• 28:16
  Speaker 6: cry over moor and meadow. The brothers were poorer than
• 28:20
  Speaker 6: ever that year. Nobody sent them a single shoe to mend,
• 28:25
  Speaker 6: the new cobbler said in scorn they should come over
• 28:28
  Speaker 6: and work for him. Scrub and Spare would have left
• 28:31
  Speaker 6: the village but for their barley field, their cabbage garden,
• 28:35
  Speaker 6: and a maid called Fairfeather, whom both the cobblers had
• 28:39
  Speaker 6: courted for seven years without even knowing whom she meant
• 28:43
  Speaker 6: to favor. Sometimes fair feathers seemed to favor Scrub, sometimes
• 28:48
  Speaker 6: she smiled on Spare. But the brothers were always friends
• 28:52
  Speaker 6: and did not quarrel. They sowed their barley, planted their cabbage, and,
• 28:57
  Speaker 6: now that their trade was gone, worked in the fields
• 29:00
  Speaker 6: of some of the rich villagers to make out a
• 29:03
  Speaker 6: scanty living. So the seasons came and passed. Spring, summer, harvest,
• 29:08
  Speaker 6: and winter followed each other as they have always done.
• 29:12
  Speaker 6: At the end of the winter, Scrub and Spaar had
• 29:15
  Speaker 6: grown so poor and ragged that fair Feather thought them
• 29:19
  Speaker 6: beneath her notice. Old neighbors forgot to invite them to
• 29:22
  Speaker 6: wedding feasts are merrymaking. They thought the cuckoo had forgotten
• 29:26
  Speaker 6: them too, When a daybreak on the first of April,
• 29:30
  Speaker 6: they heard a hard beak knocking at their door and
• 29:34
  Speaker 6: a voice crying cuckoo.
• 29:36
  Speaker 5: Cuckoo, let me in with my gifts.
• 29:40
  Speaker 6: Spare ran to the door, and in came the cuckoo,
• 29:43
  Speaker 6: carrying on one side of its bill a golden leaf
• 29:47
  Speaker 6: larger than that of any tree in the North Country,
• 29:49
  Speaker 6: and in the other one like that of the common laurel,
• 29:53
  Speaker 6: only it had a fresher green. Here, it said, giving
• 29:57
  Speaker 6: the gold to Scrub and the green to Spare, it is.
• 30:00
  Speaker 7: A long way to carry them from the end of
• 30:02
  Speaker 7: the world. Give me a slice of bread, for I
• 30:05
  Speaker 7: must tell the north country that the spring has come.
• 30:09
  Speaker 6: Scrub did not grudge the thickness of that slice, though
• 30:12
  Speaker 6: it was cut from their last loaf. So much gold
• 30:16
  Speaker 6: had never been in the cobbler's hands before, and he
• 30:20
  Speaker 6: could not help exulting over his brother.
• 30:22
  Speaker 8: See the wisdom of my choice, he.
• 30:24
  Speaker 6: Said, holding up the large leaf of gold.
• 30:27
  Speaker 8: As for yours, as good might be blucked from any hedge.
• 30:30
  Speaker 8: I wonder such a wise bird would carry the like
• 30:32
  Speaker 8: so far.
• 30:33
  Speaker 6: Good, master, Cobbler, cried the cuckoo, finishing the slice.
• 30:38
  Speaker 7: Your words are more hasty than kind. If your brother
• 30:41
  Speaker 7: is disappointed this time, I go on the same journey
• 30:45
  Speaker 7: every year, and for your kind treatment we'll think it
• 30:49
  Speaker 7: no trouble to bring each of you whichever leaf you wish.
• 30:53
  Speaker 8: Darling cuckoo, cried Scrub, bring me a golden one.
• 30:57
  Speaker 6: And Spare, looking up from the green leaf on which
• 31:00
  Speaker 6: he gazed as though it were a crown jewel.
• 31:03
  Speaker 9: Said be sure to bring me one from the merry tree.
• 31:06
  Speaker 6: And away flew the cuckoo once again.
• 31:10
  Speaker 8: This is the feast of all fools, and it ought
• 31:12
  Speaker 8: to be your birthday.
• 31:13
  Speaker 6: Said Scrub.
• 31:14
  Speaker 8: Did ever man fling away such a chance of becoming rich?
• 31:18
  Speaker 8: Much good your merry leaves will do when you are
• 31:20
  Speaker 8: so boor.
• 31:21
  Speaker 6: So he went on. But Spare laughed at him and
• 31:23
  Speaker 6: answered with many old proverbs about the cares that come
• 31:27
  Speaker 6: with gold, till Scrub, at length, growing angry, vowed his
• 31:31
  Speaker 6: brother was not fit to live with a gentleman like himself,
• 31:35
  Speaker 6: and taking his lasts, his awls, and his golden leaf,
• 31:39
  Speaker 6: he left the wattle hut and went to tell the villagers.
• 31:43
  Speaker 6: They were surprised at the folly of Spare, and charmed
• 31:46
  Speaker 6: with scrubs good since more so when he showed them
• 31:50
  Speaker 6: the golden leaf and told that the cuckoo would bring
• 31:53
  Speaker 6: him one every spring. The new cobbler at once made
• 31:57
  Speaker 6: him a partner. The greatest people said him their shoes
• 32:01
  Speaker 6: to mend. Fair Feathers smiled kindly on him, and in
• 32:04
  Speaker 6: the course of the summer they were married, with a
• 32:07
  Speaker 6: grand wedding feast, at which the whole village danced, except Spare,
• 32:12
  Speaker 6: who was not invited because the bride said he was
• 32:15
  Speaker 6: low minded, and his brother thought he was a disgrace
• 32:18
  Speaker 6: to the family. Indeed, all who heard the story thought
• 32:21
  Speaker 6: that Spare must be mad, and nobody would take up
• 32:25
  Speaker 6: with him, but a lame tinker, a beggar boy, and
• 32:28
  Speaker 6: a poor woman who was looked upon as a witch
• 32:31
  Speaker 6: because she was old and ugly. As for a scrub.
• 32:34
  Speaker 6: He went with fair Feather to a cottage close by
• 32:37
  Speaker 6: that of the new cobbler, and quite as fine. There
• 32:40
  Speaker 6: he meant to shoes so as to please everyone, had
• 32:43
  Speaker 6: a scarlet coat for holidays, and a fat goose for
• 32:46
  Speaker 6: dinner every wedding day. Fairfeather too had a crimson gown
• 32:51
  Speaker 6: and fine blue ribbons. But neither she nor Scrub were content.
• 32:56
  Speaker 6: For to buy all these grand things, the golden leaf
• 32:59
  Speaker 6: had to be broken and parted with piece by piece,
• 33:02
  Speaker 6: so the last morsel was gone before the cuckoo came
• 33:06
  Speaker 6: with another Spare lived on in the old hut and
• 33:09
  Speaker 6: worked in the cabbage garden. Scrub had got the barley
• 33:12
  Speaker 6: field because he was the elder. Every day his coat
• 33:15
  Speaker 6: grew more ragged and the hut more weather beaten. But
• 33:20
  Speaker 6: the people remarked that he never looked sad or sour.
• 33:23
  Speaker 6: The wonder was that from the time they began to
• 33:25
  Speaker 6: keep his company, the tinker grew kinder to the ass
• 33:28
  Speaker 6: with which he traveled the country. The beggar boy kept
• 33:31
  Speaker 6: out of mischief, and the old woman was never crossed
• 33:35
  Speaker 6: to her cat or angry with the children. Every first
• 33:38
  Speaker 6: of April the cuckoo came tapping at their doors with
• 33:41
  Speaker 6: the golden leaf to scrub and the green to spare.
• 33:44
  Speaker 6: Fair Feather would have treated him nobly with wheaten, bread
• 33:47
  Speaker 6: and honey, for she had some notion trying to make
• 33:50
  Speaker 6: him bring two gold leaves instead of one. But the
• 33:53
  Speaker 6: cuckoo flew away to eat barley bread with spear, saying
• 33:57
  Speaker 6: he was not fit company for fine people, and liked
• 34:00
  Speaker 6: the old hut, where he slept so snugly. From Cristmas
• 34:03
  Speaker 6: to spring, Scrub spent the golden leaves and spare kept
• 34:08
  Speaker 6: the merry ones. And I know not how many years
• 34:11
  Speaker 6: passed in this manner. When a great lord who owned
• 34:14
  Speaker 6: the village came to dwell near his castle stood on
• 34:17
  Speaker 6: the moor. It was old and strong, with high towers
• 34:21
  Speaker 6: and a deep moat. All the country as far as
• 34:24
  Speaker 6: one could see from the highest torrent, belonged to this lord.
• 34:28
  Speaker 6: But he had not been there for twenty years, and
• 34:31
  Speaker 6: would not have come then. Only he was very sad.
• 34:35
  Speaker 6: The cause of his grief was that he had been
• 34:38
  Speaker 6: prime minister at court and in high favor till somebody
• 34:42
  Speaker 6: told the Crown Prince that he had spoken with great
• 34:46
  Speaker 6: disrespect about the turning out of his Royal Highness's toes,
• 34:51
  Speaker 6: and the King that he did not lay on taxes
• 34:54
  Speaker 6: enough whereon the north country. Lord was turned out of
• 34:57
  Speaker 6: office and sent to his own estate. There he lived
• 35:00
  Speaker 6: for some weeks in very bad temper. The servants said
• 35:04
  Speaker 6: nothing would please him, and the people of the village
• 35:07
  Speaker 6: put on their worst clothes lest he should raise their rents.
• 35:11
  Speaker 6: But one day, in the harvest time, his lordship chanced
• 35:14
  Speaker 6: to meet spare gathering water crusts at a meadow stream,
• 35:18
  Speaker 6: and fell into talk with the cobbler. How it was,
• 35:21
  Speaker 6: nobody could tell, But from that hour the great Lord
• 35:24
  Speaker 6: cast away his sadness. He forgot his lost office and
• 35:28
  Speaker 6: his court enemies, the king's taxes and the crown princess toes,
• 35:33
  Speaker 6: and went about with a noble train, hunting, fishing, and
• 35:36
  Speaker 6: making merry in his hall, where all travelers were well
• 35:40
  Speaker 6: treated and the poor were welcome. This strange story soon
• 35:44
  Speaker 6: spread through the north country, and a great company came
• 35:47
  Speaker 6: to the cobbler's hut. Rich Men who had lost their money,
• 35:50
  Speaker 6: poor men who had lost their friends, beauties who had
• 35:53
  Speaker 6: grown old, wits who had gone out of fashion, all
• 35:57
  Speaker 6: came to talk with Spare, and whatever their troubles had been,
• 36:01
  Speaker 6: all went home merry. The rich gave him presents, the
• 36:05
  Speaker 6: poor gave him thanks. Spare's coat was no longer ragged,
• 36:10
  Speaker 6: he had bacon with his cabbage, and the people of
• 36:12
  Speaker 6: the village began to think there was some sense in
• 36:15
  Speaker 6: him after all. By this time his fame had reached
• 36:18
  Speaker 6: the chief city of the kingdom, and even the court.
• 36:21
  Speaker 6: There were a great many discontented people there, besides the King,
• 36:25
  Speaker 6: who had lately fallen into ill humor because a princess,
• 36:29
  Speaker 6: who lived in a kingdom near his own, and who
• 36:32
  Speaker 6: had seven islands for her dowry, would not marry his
• 36:36
  Speaker 6: eldest son. So a royal page was sent to Spare
• 36:39
  Speaker 6: with a velvet cloak, a diamond ring, and a command
• 36:43
  Speaker 6: that he should come to court at once. Tomorrow is
• 36:46
  Speaker 6: the first of April, said Spare, and I will go
• 36:49
  Speaker 6: with you two hours after sunrise. The page lodged all
• 36:53
  Speaker 6: night at the castle, and the cuckoo came at sunrise
• 36:56
  Speaker 6: with the merry leaf.
• 36:58
  Speaker 7: The court is a fine place.
• 37:00
  Speaker 6: He said, when the cobbler told him he was going.
• 37:03
  Speaker 7: But I cannot come there. They would lay snares and
• 37:06
  Speaker 7: catch me. So be careful of the leaves I have
• 37:10
  Speaker 7: brought you, and give me a farewell slice of barley bread.
• 37:14
  Speaker 6: Spare was sorry to part with the cuckoo, little as
• 37:17
  Speaker 6: he had of his company, but he gave him a
• 37:20
  Speaker 6: slice which would have broken Scrub's heart in the former
• 37:23
  Speaker 6: times it was so large, And having sewed up the
• 37:26
  Speaker 6: leaves in the lining of his leather doublet, he set
• 37:29
  Speaker 6: out with the page on his way to the court.
• 37:32
  Speaker 6: His coming caused great surprise there. Everybody wondered what the
• 37:35
  Speaker 6: king could see in such a common looking man. But
• 37:39
  Speaker 6: hardly had his Majesty talked with him. Half an hour.
• 37:42
  Speaker 6: When the Princess and her seven islands were forgotten, and
• 37:46
  Speaker 6: orders given that a feast for all comers should be
• 37:49
  Speaker 6: spread in the large dining hall, the princes of the Blood,
• 37:53
  Speaker 6: the great lords and ladies, the ministers of state, and
• 37:56
  Speaker 6: the judges of the land had a talk with Spare.
• 37:59
  Speaker 6: The more they talked, the lighter grew their hearts, so
• 38:03
  Speaker 6: that such changes had never been seen at court. The
• 38:06
  Speaker 6: lords forgot their spites, and the ladies their envies. The
• 38:10
  Speaker 6: princes and ministers made friends among themselves, and the judges
• 38:14
  Speaker 6: showed no favor. As for Spare, he had a room
• 38:18
  Speaker 6: set apart for him in the palace and a seat
• 38:20
  Speaker 6: at the King's table. One sent him rich robes and
• 38:24
  Speaker 6: another costly jewels. But in the midst of all his greatness,
• 38:28
  Speaker 6: he still wore the leather doublet, which the palace servants
• 38:32
  Speaker 6: thought very mean. One day, the King's attention being drawn
• 38:36
  Speaker 6: to it by the chief page, he asked why Spare
• 38:39
  Speaker 6: didn't give it to a beggar, But the cobbler answered.
• 38:43
  Speaker 9: High, an mighty king, this doublet was with me before
• 38:46
  Speaker 9: silkn velvet came. I find it easier to wear than
• 38:49
  Speaker 9: the court cut. Moreover, it serves to keep me humble
• 38:52
  Speaker 9: by recalling the days when it was my holiday dress.
• 38:55
  Speaker 6: The King thought this was a wise speech, and gave
• 38:59
  Speaker 6: orders that no one should find fault with the leather doublet.
• 39:02
  Speaker 6: So things went on till news of his brother's good
• 39:05
  Speaker 6: fortune reached Scrub in the Moorland cottage on another first
• 39:09
  Speaker 6: of April, when the cuckoo came with two golden leaves,
• 39:12
  Speaker 6: because he had none to carry for spare think of that, said,
• 39:17
  Speaker 6: fair feather.
• 39:18
  Speaker 10: Here we are spending our lives in this humdrum place,
• 39:20
  Speaker 10: and spare making his fortune at court with two or
• 39:23
  Speaker 10: three paltry green leaves. What would they say to our
• 39:26
  Speaker 10: golden ones? Let us pack up and make our way
• 39:29
  Speaker 10: to the King's palace. I am sure he will make
• 39:32
  Speaker 10: you a lord and me a lady of honor, not
• 39:35
  Speaker 10: to speak of all the fine clothes and presents we
• 39:37
  Speaker 10: shall have.
• 39:38
  Speaker 6: Scrub thought there was a great deal in what his
• 39:41
  Speaker 6: wife said, and they began to pack up, But it
• 39:44
  Speaker 6: was soon found that there were very few things in
• 39:47
  Speaker 6: the cottage fit for carrying to the court. Fair Feather
• 39:50
  Speaker 6: could not think of her wooden bowls, spoons and plates
• 39:53
  Speaker 6: being seen there. Scrub thought his last and all's had
• 39:57
  Speaker 6: better be left behind, as without them no one would
• 40:00
  Speaker 6: suspect him of being a cobbler. So putting on their
• 40:03
  Speaker 6: holiday clothes, Fairfeather took her looking glass and scrub is
• 40:07
  Speaker 6: drinking horn, and each carried a golden leaf, wrapped up
• 40:11
  Speaker 6: with great care that none might see it. Till they
• 40:14
  Speaker 6: reached the palace. The pair set out with high hopes.
• 40:19
  Speaker 6: How far Scrub and Fairfeather journeyed I cannot say, But
• 40:23
  Speaker 6: when the sun was high and warm at noon, they
• 40:26
  Speaker 6: came into a wood, both tired and hungry. Husband said, Fairfeather.
• 40:31
  Speaker 10: You should not have such new thoughts. How could one
• 40:34
  Speaker 10: eat barley run on the way to a palace. Let
• 40:37
  Speaker 10: us rest ourselves under this tree and look at our
• 40:40
  Speaker 10: leaves to see if they are safe.
• 40:42
  Speaker 6: In looking at the leaves and talking of what they
• 40:44
  Speaker 6: were going to do. When they came to the court,
• 40:47
  Speaker 6: Scrub and Fairfeather did not see that a very thin
• 40:51
  Speaker 6: old woman had slipped from behind a tree, with a
• 40:55
  Speaker 6: long staff in her hand and a great bag by
• 40:58
  Speaker 6: her side.
• 40:59
  Speaker 3: No, Lord and lady, she said, for I know you
• 41:03
  Speaker 3: are such by your voices. Oh, my eyes are dim
• 41:07
  Speaker 3: and my hearing none of the sharpest. Will you tell
• 41:10
  Speaker 3: me where I might find some water to mix a
• 41:13
  Speaker 3: bottle of mead, which I carry in my bag because
• 41:17
  Speaker 3: it is too strong for me.
• 41:18
  Speaker 6: As the old woman spoke, she pulled out of her
• 41:21
  Speaker 6: bag a large wooden bottle, such as shepherds used in
• 41:25
  Speaker 6: the olden times, carked with leaves rolled together, and having
• 41:29
  Speaker 6: a small wooden cup hanging from its handle.
• 41:32
  Speaker 3: Perhaps you will do me the favor to taste it,
• 41:35
  Speaker 3: she said, It is only made the best of honey.
• 41:39
  Speaker 3: I also have cream, cheese and a wheaten loaf here.
• 41:42
  Speaker 3: It's such noble persons as you eat the like.
• 41:46
  Speaker 6: Scrub and fair Feather were now sure after this speech
• 41:50
  Speaker 6: that there must be about them something of the look
• 41:53
  Speaker 6: that noble persons have. Besides, they were very hungry, and
• 41:57
  Speaker 6: having with great haste wrapped up the golden leaves, they
• 42:00
  Speaker 6: told the old woman that they were not at all proud,
• 42:04
  Speaker 6: notwithstanding the lands and castles they had left behind them
• 42:07
  Speaker 6: in the north country, and would willingly help to lighten
• 42:11
  Speaker 6: the bag. The old woman would hardly sit down beside them.
• 42:15
  Speaker 6: She was so humble and modest. But at length she did,
• 42:19
  Speaker 6: and before the bag was half empty, Scrub and fair
• 42:22
  Speaker 6: Feather firmly believed that there must be something very noble
• 42:26
  Speaker 6: looking about them. The old woman was a wood witch.
• 42:31
  Speaker 6: Her name was butter Tongue, and all her time was
• 42:34
  Speaker 6: spent in making mead, which, being boiled with strange herbs
• 42:39
  Speaker 6: and spells, had the power of making all who drank
• 42:42
  Speaker 6: it fall asleep and dream with their eyes open. She
• 42:46
  Speaker 6: had two dwarfs of sons. One was named Spy and
• 42:50
  Speaker 6: the other pounts. Wherever their mother went, they were not
• 42:54
  Speaker 6: far behind, and whoever tasted her mead was sure to
• 42:58
  Speaker 6: be robbed by the dwarfs. Scrub and Fairfeather sat leaning
• 43:02
  Speaker 6: against the old tree. The cobbler had a lump of
• 43:05
  Speaker 6: cheese in his hand, his wife held fast a hunch
• 43:09
  Speaker 6: of bread. Their eyes and mouths were both open, but
• 43:12
  Speaker 6: they were dreaming of the fine things at the court.
• 43:15
  Speaker 6: When the old woman raised her shrill voice.
• 43:19
  Speaker 3: What ho my sons come here and carry home the harvest.
• 43:23
  Speaker 6: No sooner has she spoken than the two little dwarfs
• 43:26
  Speaker 6: darted out of the nearest thicket.
• 43:28
  Speaker 3: Idle boys cried the mother, what have you done to
• 43:31
  Speaker 3: day to help our living.
• 43:33
  Speaker 11: I have been to the city, said Spy, and could
• 43:37
  Speaker 11: see nothing. These are hard times for us. Everybody minds
• 43:42
  Speaker 11: his work so contentedly since that cobbler came. But here
• 43:47
  Speaker 11: is a leathern doublet which his page threw out of
• 43:50
  Speaker 11: the window. It's of no use, but I brought it
• 43:53
  Speaker 11: to let you see I was not idle.
• 43:57
  Speaker 6: And he tossed down Spaar's doublet with the merry leaves
• 44:01
  Speaker 6: in it, which he had carried like a bundle on
• 44:03
  Speaker 6: his little back, to let you know how Spy got
• 44:06
  Speaker 6: hold of it. I must tell you that the forest
• 44:09
  Speaker 6: was not far from the great city, where spare lived
• 44:12
  Speaker 6: in such high esteem. All things had gone well with
• 44:15
  Speaker 6: the cobbler till the King thought that it was quite
• 44:18
  Speaker 6: unbecoming to see such a worthy man without a servant.
• 44:22
  Speaker 6: His majesty. Therefore, to let all men understand his royal
• 44:27
  Speaker 6: favor towards Spear appointed one of his own pages to
• 44:31
  Speaker 6: wait upon him. The name of this youth was Tenseltoes,
• 44:35
  Speaker 6: And though he was the seventh of the King's pages
• 44:38
  Speaker 6: in rank, nobody in all the court had grander notions.
• 44:42
  Speaker 6: Nothing could please him that had not gold or silver
• 44:45
  Speaker 6: about it, and his grandmother feared he would hang himself
• 44:48
  Speaker 6: for being made page to a cobbler. As for Spare,
• 44:52
  Speaker 6: if anything could have troubled him, this mark of his
• 44:55
  Speaker 6: Majesty's kindness would have done it. The honest man had
• 44:59
  Speaker 6: been so used to serve himself that the page was
• 45:02
  Speaker 6: always in the way. But his merry leaves came to
• 45:05
  Speaker 6: his aid, and to the great surprise of his grandmother,
• 45:09
  Speaker 6: tinsel Toes took to the new service in a wonderful way.
• 45:13
  Speaker 6: Some said it was because Spare gave him nothing to do,
• 45:16
  Speaker 6: but played bowls all day on the palace green. Yet
• 45:20
  Speaker 6: one thing vexed the heart of tensil Toes, and that
• 45:24
  Speaker 6: was his master's leather doublet. But for it he was
• 45:28
  Speaker 6: sure people would never remember that Spare had been a cobbler,
• 45:32
  Speaker 6: And the page took a great deal of pains to
• 45:35
  Speaker 6: let him see how much out of the fashioned it
• 45:37
  Speaker 6: was at court. But Spare answered tinsil Toes as he
• 45:41
  Speaker 6: had done the king, and at last, finding nothing better
• 45:44
  Speaker 6: would do, the page got up one fine morning earlier
• 45:48
  Speaker 6: than his master and tossed the leather doublet out of
• 45:52
  Speaker 6: the back window into a lane where spy found it
• 45:55
  Speaker 6: and brought it to his mother. That nasty thing, said
• 45:59
  Speaker 6: the old.
• 45:59
  Speaker 3: Where's the good in it?
• 46:02
  Speaker 6: By this time Pounds had taken everything of value from
• 46:05
  Speaker 6: Scrub and Fairfeather, the looking glass, the silver rimmed horn,
• 46:10
  Speaker 6: the husband's scarlet coat, the wife's gay coat, and above
• 46:14
  Speaker 6: all the golden leaves, which so gladdened the hearts of
• 46:18
  Speaker 6: old butter Tongue and her sons that they threw the
• 46:21
  Speaker 6: leather doublet over the sleeping cobbler for a joke, and
• 46:24
  Speaker 6: went off to their hut in the middle of the forest.
• 46:27
  Speaker 6: The sun was going down when Scrub and Fairfeather awoke
• 46:31
  Speaker 6: from dreaming that they had been made a lord and lady,
• 46:34
  Speaker 6: and sat clothed in silk and velvet, feasting with the
• 46:36
  Speaker 6: king in his palace hall. They were greatly disappointed to
• 46:40
  Speaker 6: find their golden leaves and all their best things gone.
• 46:44
  Speaker 6: Scrub tore his hair and vowed to take the old
• 46:48
  Speaker 6: woman's life, while Fairfeather uttered loud cries of sorrow. But Scrub,
• 46:53
  Speaker 6: feeling cold for want of his coat, put on the
• 46:56
  Speaker 6: leather doublet without asking or caring whence it came. Hardly
• 47:00
  Speaker 6: was it buttoned on when a change came over him.
• 47:03
  Speaker 6: He began to talk so merrily that instead of crying,
• 47:07
  Speaker 6: Fairfeather made the wood ring with laughter. Both busied themselves
• 47:12
  Speaker 6: in getting up a hut of branches, in which Scrub
• 47:15
  Speaker 6: kindled a fire with a flint and steel, which, together
• 47:18
  Speaker 6: with his pipe, he had brought, unknown to fair Feather,
• 47:21
  Speaker 6: who had told him the light was never heard of
• 47:24
  Speaker 6: at the court. Then they found a pheasant's nest at
• 47:27
  Speaker 6: the root of an old oak, made a meal of
• 47:30
  Speaker 6: roasted eggs, and went to sleep on a heap of
• 47:32
  Speaker 6: long green grass which they had gathered, with nightingales singing
• 47:36
  Speaker 6: all night long in the old trees about them. So
• 47:40
  Speaker 6: it happened that Scrub and Fairfeather stayed day after day
• 47:44
  Speaker 6: in the forest, making their hut larger and more cozy
• 47:48
  Speaker 6: against the winter, living on wild birds, eggs, and berries,
• 47:52
  Speaker 6: and never thinking of their lost golden leaves or their
• 47:56
  Speaker 6: journey to the court. In the meantime, Spare had got
• 48:00
  Speaker 6: up and missed his doublet Tinseltoes, of course, said he
• 48:04
  Speaker 6: knew nothing about it. The whole palace was searched, and
• 48:08
  Speaker 6: every servant questioned, till all the court wondered why such
• 48:12
  Speaker 6: a fuss was made about an old leather doublet. That
• 48:17
  Speaker 6: very day, things came back to their old fashion. Quarrels
• 48:20
  Speaker 6: began among the lords and envies. Among the ladies, the
• 48:24
  Speaker 6: king said his people did not pay him half enough taxes.
• 48:28
  Speaker 6: The queen wanted more jewels. The servants took to their
• 48:31
  Speaker 6: old quarrels and got up to some new ones. Spare
• 48:34
  Speaker 6: found himself getting strangely dull and very much out of place.
• 48:39
  Speaker 6: Nobles began to ask what business a cobbler had at
• 48:43
  Speaker 6: the king's table, and his Majesty ordered the palace records
• 48:47
  Speaker 6: to be searched to find out if such a thing
• 48:49
  Speaker 6: had ever taken place before. The cobbler was too wise
• 48:53
  Speaker 6: to tell all he had lost with that doublet, But
• 48:56
  Speaker 6: as by this time he knew the court customs, he
• 48:59
  Speaker 6: offered a reward of fifty gold pieces to anyone who
• 49:03
  Speaker 6: would bring him news about it. Scarcely was this made
• 49:06
  Speaker 6: known in the city, when the gates and outer courts
• 49:08
  Speaker 6: of the palace were filled by men, women and children,
• 49:12
  Speaker 6: some bringing leather doublets of every cut and color, some
• 49:16
  Speaker 6: with tales of what they had heard and seen in
• 49:19
  Speaker 6: their walks round about the palace. So much news about
• 49:23
  Speaker 6: all sorts of great people came out of these stories
• 49:26
  Speaker 6: that lords and ladies ran to complain of Spare as
• 49:30
  Speaker 6: one who spoke against people. His Majesty, being now sure
• 49:34
  Speaker 6: that there was no example in all the palace records
• 49:37
  Speaker 6: of such a retainer, sent forth a decree sending the
• 49:40
  Speaker 6: cobbler away forever from the court and giving all his
• 49:44
  Speaker 6: goods to the page Tenseltoes. That royal decree was hardly
• 49:49
  Speaker 6: issued before the Page had taken for himself Spare's rich room,
• 49:54
  Speaker 6: his costly garments, and all the presents the people at
• 49:57
  Speaker 6: court had given him. While Spare, having known longer the
• 50:00
  Speaker 6: fifty pieces of gold to give, was glad to make
• 50:03
  Speaker 6: his escape out of a back window, for fear of
• 50:06
  Speaker 6: the nobles who vowed to have revenge on him, and
• 50:09
  Speaker 6: the crowd who were ready to stone him for cheating
• 50:12
  Speaker 6: them about his doublet. The window from which Spear let
• 50:15
  Speaker 6: himself down with a strong rope was that from which
• 50:18
  Speaker 6: tenseil Toes had tossed the doublet. And as the cobbler
• 50:21
  Speaker 6: came down late in the twilight, a poor woodman with
• 50:25
  Speaker 6: a heavy load of faggots stopped and stared at him
• 50:28
  Speaker 6: in great surprise. What is the matter, friend asked Spare.
• 50:33
  Speaker 6: Did you never see a man coming down from a
• 50:35
  Speaker 6: back window before?
• 50:37
  Speaker 12: Why?
• 50:38
  Speaker 6: Said the woodman.
• 50:39
  Speaker 5: The last morning I passed here, a leathern doublet came
• 50:44
  Speaker 5: out of that very window, and I feel sure you
• 50:47
  Speaker 5: are the owner of it.
• 50:49
  Speaker 6: That I am, friend, said the cobbler eagerly.
• 50:52
  Speaker 9: Can you tell me which way the doublet went?
• 50:55
  Speaker 7: As I walked on, said the woodman. A dwarf called
• 50:59
  Speaker 7: Spy bundled it up and ran off to his mother
• 51:02
  Speaker 7: in the forest.
• 51:03
  Speaker 6: Honest, friend, said Spear, taking off the last of his
• 51:07
  Speaker 6: fine clothes, a grass green cloak edged with gold.
• 51:11
  Speaker 9: I will give you this if you will follow the
• 51:13
  Speaker 9: dwarf and bring me back my doublet.
• 51:16
  Speaker 5: It would not be good to carry faggots in.
• 51:19
  Speaker 6: Said the woodman.
• 51:21
  Speaker 5: But if you want back your doublet, the road to
• 51:24
  Speaker 5: the forest lies at the end of this lane.
• 51:27
  Speaker 6: And he trudged away, having made up his mind to
• 51:30
  Speaker 6: find his doublet, and sure that neither crowd nor nobles
• 51:34
  Speaker 6: could catch him in the forest, Spare went on his
• 51:37
  Speaker 6: way and was soon among the tall trees. But neither
• 51:41
  Speaker 6: hut nor dwarf could he see Moreover the night came on,
• 51:45
  Speaker 6: the wood was dark and thick. But here and there
• 51:48
  Speaker 6: the moon shone through its lanes, the great owls flitted about,
• 51:53
  Speaker 6: and the nightingales sang. So he went on, hoping to
• 51:56
  Speaker 6: find some place of shelter. At last, the red light
• 52:00
  Speaker 6: of a fire shining through a thicket led him to
• 52:04
  Speaker 6: the door of a low hut. It stood half open,
• 52:07
  Speaker 6: as if there was nothing to fear, and within he
• 52:10
  Speaker 6: saw his brother's scrub snoring loudly on a bed of grass,
• 52:14
  Speaker 6: at the foot of which lay his own leathern doublet
• 52:17
  Speaker 6: while Fairfeather, in a dress made of platted rushes, sat
• 52:21
  Speaker 6: roasting pheasants eggs by the fire.
• 52:24
  Speaker 9: Good evening Mistress.
• 52:25
  Speaker 6: Said Spare, stepping in the blaze shone on him. But
• 52:28
  Speaker 6: so changed was her brother in law with his court life,
• 52:31
  Speaker 6: that Fairfeather did not know him, And she answered far
• 52:35
  Speaker 6: more kindly than was her wont good.
• 52:37
  Speaker 10: Evening master, whence come you so late? But speak low?
• 52:41
  Speaker 10: For my good man has tired himself cutting wood and
• 52:43
  Speaker 10: is taking a sleep, as you see before supper.
• 52:46
  Speaker 9: A good rest to him, said Spare, seeing he was
• 52:49
  Speaker 9: not known. I come from the court for a day's
• 52:52
  Speaker 9: hunting and have lost my way in the forest.
• 52:54
  Speaker 10: Sit down and have a share of our supper, said
• 52:57
  Speaker 10: fair Feather. I will put some more eggs in the
• 52:59
  Speaker 10: ashes and tell me the news of court. I used
• 53:02
  Speaker 10: to think of it long ago, when I was young
• 53:04
  Speaker 10: and foolish.
• 53:06
  Speaker 9: Did you never go there?
• 53:07
  Speaker 6: Said the cobbler, So.
• 53:08
  Speaker 9: Fair a dame as you would make the ladies wonder, you.
• 53:11
  Speaker 10: Are pleased to flatter, said fair Feather. But my husband
• 53:15
  Speaker 10: has a brother there, and we left our Moorland village
• 53:18
  Speaker 10: to try our fortune. Also, an old woman at the
• 53:21
  Speaker 10: entrance to this forest, by means of fair words, got
• 53:24
  Speaker 10: us to take some strong drink, which caused us to
• 53:27
  Speaker 10: fall asleep and dream of great things. But when we woke,
• 53:30
  Speaker 10: everything had been robbed from us, my looking glass, my
• 53:33
  Speaker 10: scarlet cloak, my husband's Sunday coat. And in place of
• 53:36
  Speaker 10: all the robbers left him that old doublet, which he
• 53:39
  Speaker 10: has worn ever since. And he never was so merry
• 53:43
  Speaker 10: in all his life. Though we live in this poor hut, it.
• 53:47
  Speaker 6: Is a shabby doublet, that said spare, taking up the garment,
• 53:51
  Speaker 6: and seeing that it was his own, For the merry
• 53:54
  Speaker 6: leaves were still sewed in its lining.
• 53:57
  Speaker 9: It would be good for hunting in However, your husband
• 53:59
  Speaker 9: would be glad to pop with it, I dare say,
• 54:01
  Speaker 9: in exchange for this handsome cloak.
• 54:04
  Speaker 6: And he pulled off the green mantle and buttoned on
• 54:06
  Speaker 6: the doublet, much to Fairfeather's delight, who ran and shook Scrub, crying.
• 54:11
  Speaker 10: Husband, Husband, rise and see what a good bargain I
• 54:14
  Speaker 10: have made.
• 54:15
  Speaker 6: Scrub gave one last snore and muttered something about the
• 54:19
  Speaker 6: root being hard. But he rubbed his eyes, gazed up
• 54:23
  Speaker 6: at his brother and said.
• 54:24
  Speaker 8: Spare, is that really you? How did you like the court?
• 54:28
  Speaker 8: And have you made your fortune that I have?
• 54:30
  Speaker 9: Brother, said, spare in getting back my own good leathern doublet. Come,
• 54:36
  Speaker 9: let us eat eggs and rest ourselves here this night.
• 54:39
  Speaker 9: In the morning we will return to our old hut
• 54:42
  Speaker 9: at the end of the moorland village, where the Christmas
• 54:45
  Speaker 9: cuckoo will come and bring us leaves.
• 54:47
  Speaker 6: Scrub and Fairfeather agreed. So in the morning they all
• 54:51
  Speaker 6: returned and found the old hut little the worse for
• 54:54
  Speaker 6: wear and weather. The people of the village came about
• 54:57
  Speaker 6: them to ask the news of court, and see they
• 55:00
  Speaker 6: had made their fortune. Everybody was surprised to find the
• 55:03
  Speaker 6: three poorer than ever, but somehow they liked to go
• 55:07
  Speaker 6: to the hut. Spear brought out the lasts and the
• 55:10
  Speaker 6: awls he had hidden in the corner scrub, and he
• 55:13
  Speaker 6: began their old trade again. And the whole North Country
• 55:16
  Speaker 6: found out that there never were such cobblers. They mended
• 55:20
  Speaker 6: the shoes of lords and ladies as well as the
• 55:23
  Speaker 6: common people. Everybody was well pleased with the work. Their
• 55:27
  Speaker 6: trade grew greater from day to day, and all that
• 55:30
  Speaker 6: were discontented or unlucky came to the hut, as in
• 55:33
  Speaker 6: old times before spare went to the court. The rich
• 55:37
  Speaker 6: brought them presents, the poor did them service. The hut
• 55:40
  Speaker 6: itself changed. No one knew how flowering honeysuckle grew over
• 55:45
  Speaker 6: its roof, red and white roses grew thick about its door. Moreover,
• 55:50
  Speaker 6: the Christmas cuckoo always came on the first of April,
• 55:55
  Speaker 6: bringing three leaves of the merry tree, for scrub and
• 55:58
  Speaker 6: fairfeather would have no oh more golden ones. So it
• 56:02
  Speaker 6: was with them when I last heard the news of
• 56:05
  Speaker 6: the North Country.
• 56:07
  Speaker 1: End of chapter two, Granny's Wonderful Chair by Francis Brown.
• 56:21
  Speaker 1: This is the LibriVox recording. All LibriVox recordings are in
• 56:24
  Speaker 1: the public domain. For more information or to volunteer, please
• 56:28
  Speaker 1: visit LibriVox dot org. Readers for chapter three. Narrator read
• 56:35
  Speaker 1: by lenat Gaisel.
• 56:36
  Speaker 6: Storytelling Chair read by Phil Shelevert.
• 56:40
  Speaker 2: Snowflower read by Cheyenne Dunel.
• 56:43
  Speaker 13: Lord of the White Castle read by Ernest Patinama.
• 56:47
  Speaker 8: Traveler read by Matthew Reese.
• 56:50
  Speaker 6: Reckoning Robin Steward of White Castle read by David Lawrence.
• 56:56
  Speaker 12: Lord of the Gray Castle read by Algi pug.
• 57:00
  Speaker 9: He Will read by Peter Bishop.
• 57:03
  Speaker 5: Bear read by Kentonfelt.
• 57:05
  Speaker 14: Cat read by Amy.
• 57:06
  Speaker 4: Graymore Woodwinder, son of Lord of the Gray Castle, read
• 57:11
  Speaker 4: by Glenn PREVATERA.
• 57:13
  Speaker 15: Love Leaves, daughter of the Lord of Whitecastle, read by
• 57:17
  Speaker 15: Beth Thomas.
• 57:19
  Speaker 16: Lady Greensleaves read by Calinda.
• 57:22
  Speaker 11: Raven read by Steve Belgil.
• 57:26
  Speaker 5: Young Hunter read by Ken Felt. Old Hunter read by
• 57:31
  Speaker 5: Kenton Felt.
• 57:34
  Speaker 1: Chapter three, Lady Greensleeves. On the evening of the next day,
• 57:41
  Speaker 1: King Winwelth again fell into low spirits and gave orders
• 57:46
  Speaker 1: that Snowflower and her wonderful chair should be brought to
• 57:49
  Speaker 1: the highest Hall. When Snowflower came, she at once laid
• 57:53
  Speaker 1: down her head on the chair, saying.
• 57:56
  Speaker 2: Care of my grandmother, tell me a story.
• 57:59
  Speaker 1: Listen, said the clear voice from under the cushion.
• 58:03
  Speaker 6: To the story of Lady Greensleeves. Once upon a time
• 58:07
  Speaker 6: there lived two noble lords in the East Country. Their
• 58:11
  Speaker 6: lands lay between a broad river and an old oak
• 58:14
  Speaker 6: forest in the midst of his land. Each lord had
• 58:18
  Speaker 6: a stately castle. One was built of white freestone, the
• 58:22
  Speaker 6: other of gray granite. So the one was called Lord
• 58:25
  Speaker 6: of the White Castle, and the other Lord of the
• 58:28
  Speaker 6: Gray No lords in all the East Country were so
• 58:32
  Speaker 6: noble and kind as they. Their people lived in peace
• 58:36
  Speaker 6: and plenty. All strangers were well treated at their castles.
• 58:41
  Speaker 6: Every autumn they sent men with axes into the forest
• 58:44
  Speaker 6: to hew down the great trees and chop them into
• 58:46
  Speaker 6: firewood for the poor. Neither hedge nor ditch divided their lands,
• 58:50
  Speaker 6: but these lords never had a quarrel. They had been
• 58:54
  Speaker 6: friends from their youth. Their ladies had died long ago.
• 58:58
  Speaker 6: But the Lord of the Gray Castle had a little son,
• 59:01
  Speaker 6: and the Lord of the White a little daughter. And
• 59:04
  Speaker 6: when they feasted in each other's halls, it was their
• 59:07
  Speaker 6: custom to say, with all children.
• 59:10
  Speaker 12: Grow up, they were maddy, and have our castles and alans,
• 59:14
  Speaker 12: and keep our friendship in memory.
• 59:17
  Speaker 6: So the lords and their little children and their people
• 59:20
  Speaker 6: lived happily till one michaelmas knight. As they were all
• 59:24
  Speaker 6: feasting in the hall of the White Castle, there came
• 59:27
  Speaker 6: a traveler to the gate, who was welcomed and feasted
• 59:31
  Speaker 6: as usual. He had seen many strained sights and countries,
• 59:35
  Speaker 6: and he liked to tell of his travels. The lords
• 59:38
  Speaker 6: were delighted with his tales as they sat round the
• 59:40
  Speaker 6: fire after supper, and at length the Lord of the
• 59:43
  Speaker 6: White Castle, who was always very eager to know all
• 59:47
  Speaker 6: he could about new countries, said.
• 59:49
  Speaker 13: Good stranger, what was the greatest wonder you ever saw
• 59:54
  Speaker 13: in all your travels?
• 59:55
  Speaker 8: The most wonderful sight that ever I saw, replied the
• 59:59
  Speaker 8: travel was at the end of yonder forest. There, in
• 1:00:03
  Speaker 8: an old wooden house there sits an old woman weaving
• 1:00:07
  Speaker 8: her own hair into gray cloth on an old, worn
• 1:00:11
  Speaker 8: out loom. When she wants more yarn, she cuts off
• 1:00:16
  Speaker 8: her own gray hair, and it grows so quickly that
• 1:00:20
  Speaker 8: though I saw it cut in the morning, it was
• 1:00:23
  Speaker 8: out the door before noon. She told me she wished
• 1:00:27
  Speaker 8: to sell the cloth, but none of all who came
• 1:00:31
  Speaker 8: that way had yet bought any. She asked so great
• 1:00:34
  Speaker 8: a price, and if the wave were not so long
• 1:00:38
  Speaker 8: and dangerous through that vide forest, which is full of
• 1:00:42
  Speaker 8: bears and wolves, some rich lord like you might buy
• 1:00:47
  Speaker 8: it for a cloak.
• 1:00:48
  Speaker 6: All who heard this story were greatly surprised. But when
• 1:00:52
  Speaker 6: the traveler had gone on his way, the Lord of
• 1:00:55
  Speaker 6: the White Castle could neither eat nor sleep, for wishing
• 1:00:58
  Speaker 6: to see the old woman that wove her own hair.
• 1:01:02
  Speaker 6: At length, he made up his mind to go through
• 1:01:04
  Speaker 6: the forest in search of her old house, and told
• 1:01:08
  Speaker 6: the Lord of the Gray Castle what he had made
• 1:01:10
  Speaker 6: up his mind to do. Being a wise man, this
• 1:01:13
  Speaker 6: lord replied that traveler's tales were not always to be trusted,
• 1:01:18
  Speaker 6: and tried hard to advise him against undertaking such a
• 1:01:21
  Speaker 6: long and dangerous journey, for few that went into that
• 1:01:25
  Speaker 6: forest ever returned. However, when the curious lord would go
• 1:01:29
  Speaker 6: in spite of all he said, he vowed to go
• 1:01:33
  Speaker 6: with him for friendship's sake, and they agreed to set
• 1:01:36
  Speaker 6: out without letting any one know lest the other lords
• 1:01:39
  Speaker 6: of the land might laugh at them. The Lord of
• 1:01:42
  Speaker 6: the White Castle had a steward who had served him
• 1:01:44
  Speaker 6: many years, and his name was Reckoning Robin.
• 1:01:48
  Speaker 13: To him, he said, I am going on a journey
• 1:01:51
  Speaker 13: with my friend. Be careful of my goods, deal justly
• 1:01:54
  Speaker 13: with my people, and above all things, be kind to
• 1:01:58
  Speaker 13: my little daughter. Loveleaves till my return.
• 1:02:01
  Speaker 6: The stewart answered, be sure, my lord, I will. The
• 1:02:05
  Speaker 6: lord of the Gray Castle also had a steward who
• 1:02:07
  Speaker 6: had served him many years, and his name was wary Will.
• 1:02:12
  Speaker 6: To him, he said, amgo, you're a journey with my friend.
• 1:02:16
  Speaker 12: Be careful of my goods, deal justly with my people,
• 1:02:20
  Speaker 12: and above all, be kind to my little son. Would
• 1:02:24
  Speaker 12: window till my return?
• 1:02:26
  Speaker 6: If Stuart answered him, be sure, my lord I will.
• 1:02:29
  Speaker 6: So these lords kissed their children while they slept, and
• 1:02:33
  Speaker 6: set out, each with his staff and cloak before sunrise
• 1:02:36
  Speaker 6: through the old oak forest. The children missed their fathers,
• 1:02:40
  Speaker 6: and the people missed their lords. None but the stewards
• 1:02:43
  Speaker 6: could tell what had become of them. But seven months
• 1:02:47
  Speaker 6: wore away, and they did not come back. The lords
• 1:02:50
  Speaker 6: had thought their stewards faithful because they served so well
• 1:02:54
  Speaker 6: under their eyes. But instead of that, both were proud
• 1:02:58
  Speaker 6: and cunning, and, thinking that some evil had happened to
• 1:03:01
  Speaker 6: their masters, they set themselves to be lards in their place,
• 1:03:06
  Speaker 6: reckoning Robin had a son called hard Hold, and wary
• 1:03:10
  Speaker 6: will a daughter named dry Penny. There was not a
• 1:03:14
  Speaker 6: sulkier girl or boy in the country, but their fathers
• 1:03:18
  Speaker 6: made up their minds to make a young lord and
• 1:03:20
  Speaker 6: lady of them. So they took the silk clothes which
• 1:03:23
  Speaker 6: Woodwinder and love Leaves used to wear to dress them,
• 1:03:27
  Speaker 6: putting on the large children's their coarse clothes. Their toys
• 1:03:31
  Speaker 6: were given to hard Hold and dry Penny, and at
• 1:03:34
  Speaker 6: last the steward's children sat at the chief tables and
• 1:03:38
  Speaker 6: slept in the best rooms, while Woodwinder and love Leaves
• 1:03:42
  Speaker 6: were sent to herd the swine and sleep on straw
• 1:03:45
  Speaker 6: in the granary. The poor children had no one to
• 1:03:48
  Speaker 6: take their part. Every morning, at sunrise they were set out,
• 1:03:52
  Speaker 6: each with a barley loaf and a bottle of sour milk,
• 1:03:55
  Speaker 6: which was to serve them for breakfast, dinner, and supper,
• 1:03:59
  Speaker 6: to watch a great herd of swine on a wide
• 1:04:02
  Speaker 6: field near the forest. The grass was scanty, and the
• 1:04:05
  Speaker 6: swine were always straying into the wood in search of acorns.
• 1:04:10
  Speaker 6: The children knew that if they were lost, the wicked
• 1:04:13
  Speaker 6: stewards would punish them, and between gathering and keeping their
• 1:04:16
  Speaker 6: herds in ardor they were readier to sleep on the
• 1:04:19
  Speaker 6: grainery straw at night than ever they had been within
• 1:04:22
  Speaker 6: their own silken curtains. Still, wood Winder and love Leaves
• 1:04:27
  Speaker 6: were a great help and comfort to each other, saying
• 1:04:30
  Speaker 6: their fathers would come back, or God would send them
• 1:04:33
  Speaker 6: some friends. So in spite of swine hurting and hard living,
• 1:04:38
  Speaker 6: they looked as cheerful and handsome as ever, while Hardhold
• 1:04:42
  Speaker 6: and dry Penny grew crosser and uglier every day, notwithstanding
• 1:04:47
  Speaker 6: their fine clothes. The false Stewarts did not like this.
• 1:04:51
  Speaker 6: They thought their children not to look genteel and Woodwinder
• 1:04:55
  Speaker 6: and love leaves like young swineherds. So they sent them
• 1:04:59
  Speaker 6: to a wilder field, still nearer the forest, and gave
• 1:05:03
  Speaker 6: them two great black hogs, more unruly than all the rest,
• 1:05:07
  Speaker 6: to keep. One of these hogs belonged to hard Hold
• 1:05:11
  Speaker 6: and the other to Drypenny. Every evening when they came home,
• 1:05:15
  Speaker 6: the Stewart's children used to come down and feed them,
• 1:05:18
  Speaker 6: and it was their delight to reckon up what price
• 1:05:21
  Speaker 6: they would bring when properly fattened. One very hot day
• 1:05:25
  Speaker 6: about midsummer, wood Winder and love leaves sat down in
• 1:05:29
  Speaker 6: the shadow of a mossy rock. The swine grazed about
• 1:05:33
  Speaker 6: them more quietly than usual, and the children platted rushes
• 1:05:37
  Speaker 6: and talked to each other, till as the sun was
• 1:05:39
  Speaker 6: sloping down the sky, wood Winders saw that the two
• 1:05:43
  Speaker 6: great hogs were missing. Thinking they must have gone to
• 1:05:46
  Speaker 6: the forest, the children ran to search for them. They
• 1:05:50
  Speaker 6: heard the thrush singing and the wood doves calling. They
• 1:05:53
  Speaker 6: saw the squirrels leaping from branch to branch, and the
• 1:05:56
  Speaker 6: deer bounding by. But though they searched for hours, no
• 1:06:01
  Speaker 6: trace of the hogs could be seen. Love Leaves and
• 1:06:04
  Speaker 6: wood Winder dared not go home without them. Deeper and
• 1:06:08
  Speaker 6: deeper they ran into the forest, searching and calling, but
• 1:06:13
  Speaker 6: all in vain, And when the woods began to darken
• 1:06:17
  Speaker 6: with the fall of evening, the children feared they had
• 1:06:20
  Speaker 6: lost their way. It was known that they never feared
• 1:06:23
  Speaker 6: the forest, nor all the boars and wolves that were
• 1:06:26
  Speaker 6: in it. But being weary, they wished for some place
• 1:06:30
  Speaker 6: of shelter and took a green path through the trees,
• 1:06:34
  Speaker 6: thinking it might lead to the dwelling of some hermit
• 1:06:36
  Speaker 6: or forester. A fairer way wood Winter and Love leaves
• 1:06:41
  Speaker 6: had never walked. The grass was soft and mossy. A
• 1:06:45
  Speaker 6: hedge of wild roses and honeysuckle grew on either side,
• 1:06:49
  Speaker 6: and the red light of the sunset streamed through the
• 1:06:52
  Speaker 6: tall trees above. On they went, and it led them
• 1:06:56
  Speaker 6: straight to a great open dell, covered with the most
• 1:06:59
  Speaker 6: lovely flowers, bordered with banks of wild strawberries, and all
• 1:07:04
  Speaker 6: overshadowed by a huge oak, the like of which had
• 1:07:08
  Speaker 6: never been seen in grove or forest. Its branches were
• 1:07:11
  Speaker 6: as large as full grown trees, its trunk was wider
• 1:07:15
  Speaker 6: than a country church, and its height was like that
• 1:07:18
  Speaker 6: of a castle. There were mossy seats at its great root,
• 1:07:22
  Speaker 6: and when the tired children had gathered as many strawberries
• 1:07:25
  Speaker 6: as they cared for, they sat down on one, close
• 1:07:29
  Speaker 6: by a small spring that bubbled up as clear as crystal.
• 1:07:33
  Speaker 6: The mighty oak was covered with thick ivy in which
• 1:07:36
  Speaker 6: thousands of birds had their nests. Woodwinder and love leaves
• 1:07:41
  Speaker 6: watched them flying home from all parts of the forest,
• 1:07:45
  Speaker 6: and at last they saw a lady coming by the
• 1:07:47
  Speaker 6: same path which led them to the dell. She wore
• 1:07:50
  Speaker 6: a gown of a red color. Her yellow hair was
• 1:07:53
  Speaker 6: braided and bound with a red band. In her right hand,
• 1:07:57
  Speaker 6: she carried a holly branch and the stream just part
• 1:08:00
  Speaker 6: of her dress was a pair of long sleeves as
• 1:08:04
  Speaker 6: green as the very grass. Who are you, she said,
• 1:08:09
  Speaker 6: that sits.
• 1:08:09
  Speaker 16: So late beside my well?
• 1:08:11
  Speaker 6: And the children told her their story, how they had
• 1:08:14
  Speaker 6: first lost the hogs and then their way, and were
• 1:08:17
  Speaker 6: afraid to go home to the wicked stewards well.
• 1:08:20
  Speaker 16: Said the lady, you are the fairest swineherds that ever
• 1:08:23
  Speaker 16: came this way. Choose whether you will go home and
• 1:08:27
  Speaker 16: keep hogs for hard hold and drypenny, or live in
• 1:08:31
  Speaker 16: the free forest with me.
• 1:08:33
  Speaker 6: We will stay with you, said the children.
• 1:08:35
  Speaker 15: But we do not keeping swine. Besides, the fathers went
• 1:08:39
  Speaker 15: through this forest, and we may make them some say
• 1:08:42
  Speaker 15: come home.
• 1:08:43
  Speaker 6: When they spoke, the lady slipped her holly branch through
• 1:08:46
  Speaker 6: the ivy as if it had been a key. Soon
• 1:08:49
  Speaker 6: a door opened in the oak, and there was a
• 1:08:52
  Speaker 6: fair house. The windows were of rock crystal, but they
• 1:08:56
  Speaker 6: could not be seen from without. The walls and floors
• 1:09:00
  Speaker 6: were covered with thick green moss as soft as velvet.
• 1:09:05
  Speaker 6: There were low seats and a round table, vessels of
• 1:09:08
  Speaker 6: carved wood, a hearth inlaid with strange stones, an oven,
• 1:09:13
  Speaker 6: and a store room for food against the winter. When
• 1:09:17
  Speaker 6: they stepped in, the lady said, a hundred.
• 1:09:19
  Speaker 16: Years have I lived here, and my name is Lady Greensleeves.
• 1:09:25
  Speaker 16: No friend or servant have I except my dwarf Corner,
• 1:09:29
  Speaker 16: who comes to me at the end of harvest with
• 1:09:31
  Speaker 16: his hand mill, his basket and his axe. With these
• 1:09:36
  Speaker 16: he grinds the nuts, and gathers the berries, and splits
• 1:09:40
  Speaker 16: the firewood, and cheerily we live all the winter. But
• 1:09:44
  Speaker 16: Corner loves the frost and fears the sun. And when
• 1:09:49
  Speaker 16: the topmost branches begin to bud, he returns to his
• 1:09:52
  Speaker 16: country far in the north. So I am lonely in
• 1:09:56
  Speaker 16: the summer time.
• 1:09:57
  Speaker 6: By these words the children saw how welcome them they were.
• 1:10:01
  Speaker 6: Lady Greensleeves gave them deer's milk, and cakes of nut
• 1:10:05
  Speaker 6: flour and soft green moss to sleep on, and they
• 1:10:09
  Speaker 6: forgot all their troubles, the wicked stewards and the straining swine.
• 1:10:14
  Speaker 6: Early in the morning a troop of does came to
• 1:10:16
  Speaker 6: be milk. Fairies brought flowers, and birds brought berries to
• 1:10:21
  Speaker 6: show Lady Greensleeves what had bloomed and ripened. She taught
• 1:10:26
  Speaker 6: the children to make cheese of the does, milk and
• 1:10:28
  Speaker 6: wine of the woodberries. She showed them the stores of
• 1:10:32
  Speaker 6: honey which wild bees had made and left in the
• 1:10:35
  Speaker 6: hollow trees, the rarest plants of the forest, and the
• 1:10:39
  Speaker 6: herbs that made all the creatures tame. All that summer.
• 1:10:43
  Speaker 6: Woodwinder and love Leaves lived with her in the great
• 1:10:46
  Speaker 6: oak tree, free from toil and care. The children would
• 1:10:51
  Speaker 6: have been happy, but they could hear no news of
• 1:10:53
  Speaker 6: their father. At last, the leaves began to fade in
• 1:10:57
  Speaker 6: the flowers. To Falldy Greensleeves said that corner was coming.
• 1:11:03
  Speaker 6: One moonlight night, she heaped sticks on the fire and
• 1:11:06
  Speaker 6: set her door open when Woodwind and love Leaves were
• 1:11:10
  Speaker 6: going to sleep, saying she expected some friends to tell
• 1:11:13
  Speaker 6: her the news of the forest. Love Leaves was not
• 1:11:16
  Speaker 6: quite so curious as her father, the Lord of the
• 1:11:19
  Speaker 6: White Castle, but she kept awake to see what would happen,
• 1:11:23
  Speaker 6: and very much afraid the little girl was when in
• 1:11:26
  Speaker 6: walked a great brown bear.
• 1:11:29
  Speaker 7: Good evening lady.
• 1:11:31
  Speaker 6: Said the bear. Good evening bear, said, Lady Greensleeves, What is.
• 1:11:35
  Speaker 16: The news in your part of the forest.
• 1:11:37
  Speaker 6: Not much, said the bear.
• 1:11:40
  Speaker 7: Only the fawns are growing very cunning. One can't catch
• 1:11:44
  Speaker 7: above three in a day.
• 1:11:46
  Speaker 6: That's bad news, said Lady Greensleeves. And at once in
• 1:11:50
  Speaker 6: walked a great wild cat.
• 1:11:52
  Speaker 14: Good evening, lady.
• 1:11:54
  Speaker 6: Said the cat. Good evening cat, said Lady Greensleeves.
• 1:11:58
  Speaker 16: What is the news in your part of the forest?
• 1:12:00
  Speaker 6: Not much, said the cat.
• 1:12:02
  Speaker 14: Only the birds are growing very plentiful. It is not
• 1:12:05
  Speaker 14: worth one's while to catch them.
• 1:12:07
  Speaker 6: That's good news, said Lady Greensleeves. And in flew a
• 1:12:10
  Speaker 6: great black raven. Good evening katy, said the raven. Good evening, raven,
• 1:12:16
  Speaker 6: said Lady Greensleeves.
• 1:12:17
  Speaker 16: What is the news in your part of the forest.
• 1:12:20
  Speaker 6: Not much, said the raven.
• 1:12:22
  Speaker 17: Only in a hundred years or so we shall be
• 1:12:26
  Speaker 17: very genteel and private.
• 1:12:28
  Speaker 18: The trees will be so thick.
• 1:12:30
  Speaker 6: How is that, said Lady Greensleeves. Oh, said the raven.
• 1:12:34
  Speaker 17: Have you not heard how the King of the forest
• 1:12:37
  Speaker 17: Fairies laid a spell on two logs who were traveling
• 1:12:41
  Speaker 17: through his kingdom to see the old woman that weaves
• 1:12:44
  Speaker 17: her own hair.
• 1:12:45
  Speaker 18: They have thinned his oaks every year, cutting firewood for
• 1:12:50
  Speaker 18: the poor. So the king met them in the likeness
• 1:12:53
  Speaker 18: of a hunter and asked them to drink out of
• 1:12:57
  Speaker 18: his oaken goblet, because they was warm. When the two
• 1:13:02
  Speaker 18: lords drank, they forgot their lands and their people, their castles,
• 1:13:08
  Speaker 18: and their children, and minded nothing in all the world
• 1:13:12
  Speaker 18: but the planting of acorns, which they do day and
• 1:13:16
  Speaker 18: night by the power of the spell in the heart
• 1:13:19
  Speaker 18: of the forest. They will never stop till someone makes
• 1:13:23
  Speaker 18: them pause in their work before the sun sets, and
• 1:13:27
  Speaker 18: then the spell will be broken.
• 1:13:31
  Speaker 6: Ah, said Lady Greensleeves.
• 1:13:33
  Speaker 16: He is a great prince, that king of the forest fairies,
• 1:13:37
  Speaker 16: and there is worse work in the world than planting acorns.
• 1:13:42
  Speaker 6: Soon after, the bear, the cat and the raven bade
• 1:13:45
  Speaker 6: Lady Greensleeves good night. She closed the door, put out
• 1:13:48
  Speaker 6: the light, and went to sleep on a soft moss
• 1:13:51
  Speaker 6: as usual. In the morning, Lovel's told Woodwinder what she
• 1:13:55
  Speaker 6: had heard, and they went to Lady Greensleeves where she
• 1:13:58
  Speaker 6: milked the does, and said.
• 1:14:00
  Speaker 15: We heard what the riven told you last night, and
• 1:14:03
  Speaker 15: we know the two lords are our fathers. Tell us
• 1:14:06
  Speaker 15: how the spell may be broken.
• 1:14:08
  Speaker 16: I fear the king of the forest.
• 1:14:09
  Speaker 6: Fairies, said Lady Greensleeves, because I live.
• 1:14:13
  Speaker 16: Here alone and have no friend but my dwarf corner.
• 1:14:16
  Speaker 16: But I will tell you what you may do. At
• 1:14:19
  Speaker 16: the end of the path which leads from this dell,
• 1:14:22
  Speaker 16: turn your faces to the north, and you will find
• 1:14:25
  Speaker 16: a narrow way sprinkled with black feathers. Keep that path
• 1:14:30
  Speaker 16: no matter how it winds, and it will lead you
• 1:14:33
  Speaker 16: straight to that part of the forest in which the
• 1:14:35
  Speaker 16: ravens dwell. There you will find your father's planting acorns
• 1:14:40
  Speaker 16: under the forest trees. Watch till the sun is near setting,
• 1:14:44
  Speaker 16: and tell them the most wonderful things you know to
• 1:14:47
  Speaker 16: make them forget their work. But be sure to tell
• 1:14:50
  Speaker 16: nothing but truth and drink nothing but running water, or
• 1:14:53
  Speaker 16: you will fall into the power of the fairy king.
• 1:14:57
  Speaker 6: The children thanked her for this good advice. She packed
• 1:15:00
  Speaker 6: up cakes and cheese for them in a bag of
• 1:15:02
  Speaker 6: woven grass, and they soon found that the narrow waste
• 1:15:06
  Speaker 6: sprinkled over with black feathers. It was very long and
• 1:15:10
  Speaker 6: wound through the thick trees in so many circles that
• 1:15:13
  Speaker 6: the children were often weary and sat down to rest.
• 1:15:17
  Speaker 6: When the night came. They found a mossy hollow in
• 1:15:20
  Speaker 6: the trunk of an old tree, where they laid themselves
• 1:15:23
  Speaker 6: down and slept all the summer night. For woodwind and
• 1:15:26
  Speaker 6: love leaves never feared the forest. So they went, eating
• 1:15:31
  Speaker 6: their cakes and cheese when they were hungry, drinking from
• 1:15:34
  Speaker 6: the running stream, and sleeping in the hollow trees, till
• 1:15:38
  Speaker 6: on the evening of the seventh day they came into
• 1:15:40
  Speaker 6: that part of the forest where the ravens lived. The
• 1:15:44
  Speaker 6: tall trees were laden with nests and black with ravens.
• 1:15:48
  Speaker 6: There was nothing to be heard but cawing. In a
• 1:15:52
  Speaker 6: great opening where the oaks were thinnest, the children saw
• 1:15:55
  Speaker 6: their own fathers busy planting acorns. Each lore had on
• 1:16:00
  Speaker 6: the velvet cloak in which he left his castle, but
• 1:16:03
  Speaker 6: it was worn to rags with rough work in the forest.
• 1:16:07
  Speaker 6: Their hair and beards had grown long, their hands were
• 1:16:11
  Speaker 6: soiled with earth. Each had an old wooden spade, and
• 1:16:15
  Speaker 6: on all sides lay heaps of acorns. The children called
• 1:16:19
  Speaker 6: their names and ran to kiss them, each saying.
• 1:16:22
  Speaker 4: Dear father, come back to your castle on your people.
• 1:16:25
  Speaker 15: Dear father, come back to your castle and your people.
• 1:16:28
  Speaker 6: But the lords replied, we know of.
• 1:16:31
  Speaker 12: No castles and no people. There is nothing in all
• 1:16:35
  Speaker 12: this world but herk leaves and acorns.
• 1:16:38
  Speaker 6: Would Winder and love Leaves told them of all their
• 1:16:40
  Speaker 6: farmer state in vain. Nothing would make them pause for
• 1:16:44
  Speaker 6: a minute. So the poor children sat down and cried,
• 1:16:48
  Speaker 6: and then slept on the cold grass for the sun set,
• 1:16:52
  Speaker 6: and the lords worked on. When they awoke it was
• 1:16:56
  Speaker 6: broad day. Wood Winder cheered up love Leaves, saying.
• 1:17:00
  Speaker 4: We are hungry, and there are two cakes in the bag.
• 1:17:02
  Speaker 4: Let us share one of them. Who knows, but something
• 1:17:05
  Speaker 4: may happen.
• 1:17:06
  Speaker 6: So they divided the cake and ran to the lords.
• 1:17:08
  Speaker 15: Saying, dear fathers ate with us.
• 1:17:10
  Speaker 6: But the lords said.
• 1:17:12
  Speaker 13: There is no use for meat or drink. Let us
• 1:17:14
  Speaker 13: plant our acorns.
• 1:17:17
  Speaker 6: Love Leaves and wood winters sat down and ate that
• 1:17:19
  Speaker 6: cake in great sorrow. When they had finished, both went
• 1:17:24
  Speaker 6: to a stream that ran close by and began to
• 1:17:27
  Speaker 6: drink the clear water with a large acorn shell. And
• 1:17:31
  Speaker 6: as they drank, there came through the oaks a gay,
• 1:17:34
  Speaker 6: young hunter. His mantle was green as the grass. About
• 1:17:38
  Speaker 6: his neck there hung a crystal bugle, and in his
• 1:17:41
  Speaker 6: hand he carried a huge oaken goblet, carved with flowers
• 1:17:46
  Speaker 6: and leaves and rimmed with crystal. Up to the brim
• 1:17:49
  Speaker 6: the cup was filled with milk, on which the rich
• 1:17:52
  Speaker 6: cream floated, and as the hunter came near, he said.
• 1:17:55
  Speaker 5: Her children, leave that muddy water and come and drink
• 1:17:59
  Speaker 5: with me.
• 1:18:01
  Speaker 6: But Woodwinder and love Leaves answered.
• 1:18:03
  Speaker 4: Thanks, good hunter, but we have promised to drink nothing
• 1:18:06
  Speaker 4: but running water.
• 1:18:07
  Speaker 6: Still, the hunter came nearer with his goblet, saying.
• 1:18:10
  Speaker 5: The water is dirty. It may do for swineherds and woodcutters,
• 1:18:15
  Speaker 5: but not for such fair children as you tell me.
• 1:18:19
  Speaker 5: Are you not the children of mighty kings? Were you
• 1:18:22
  Speaker 5: not brought up in palaces?
• 1:18:25
  Speaker 6: But the boy and girl answered him no.
• 1:18:28
  Speaker 15: We were brought up in castles, and are the children of
• 1:18:31
  Speaker 15: yonder lords? Tell us how the spel thatt is upon
• 1:18:33
  Speaker 15: them may be broken?
• 1:18:34
  Speaker 6: At once the hunter turned from them with an angry look,
• 1:18:38
  Speaker 6: poured out the milk on the ground, and went away
• 1:18:40
  Speaker 6: with this empty goblet. Love Leaves and Woodwinder were sorry
• 1:18:44
  Speaker 6: to see the rich cream spilled, but they remembered the
• 1:18:48
  Speaker 6: warning of Lady Greensleeves, and, seeing they could do no better,
• 1:18:52
  Speaker 6: each got a withered branch and began to help the lords,
• 1:18:56
  Speaker 6: scratching up the ground with the sharp end and planting
• 1:18:59
  Speaker 6: acorn runs. But their fathers took no notice of them,
• 1:19:03
  Speaker 6: nor of all that they could say. When the sun
• 1:19:07
  Speaker 6: grew warm at noon, they went again to drink at
• 1:19:09
  Speaker 6: the running stream. Then through the oaks came another hunter,
• 1:19:14
  Speaker 6: older than the first, and clothed and yellow. About his
• 1:19:17
  Speaker 6: neck there hung a silver bugle, and in his hand
• 1:19:21
  Speaker 6: he carried an oaken goblet carved with leaves and fruit,
• 1:19:24
  Speaker 6: rimmed with silver, and filled with mead to the brim.
• 1:19:28
  Speaker 6: This hunter also asked them to drink, told them the
• 1:19:31
  Speaker 6: stream was full of frogs, and asked him if they
• 1:19:34
  Speaker 6: were not a young prince and princess dwelling in the
• 1:19:37
  Speaker 6: woods for their pleasure. But when woodwind and love leaves answered,
• 1:19:41
  Speaker 6: as before, we.
• 1:19:42
  Speaker 4: Have promised to drink only running water, and are the
• 1:19:45
  Speaker 4: children of yonder lords? Tell us how the spell may
• 1:19:48
  Speaker 4: be broken.
• 1:19:49
  Speaker 6: He turned from them with an angry look, poured out
• 1:19:52
  Speaker 6: the meat, and went his way. All that afternoon, the
• 1:19:55
  Speaker 6: children worked beside their fathers, planting acorns with the withered branches,
• 1:20:00
  Speaker 6: But the lords would mind neither them nor their words,
• 1:20:04
  Speaker 6: And when the evening drew near, they were very hungry.
• 1:20:07
  Speaker 6: So the children divided their last cake, and since they
• 1:20:11
  Speaker 6: could not make the lords eat with them. They went
• 1:20:14
  Speaker 6: to the banks of the stream and began to eat
• 1:20:16
  Speaker 6: and drink, though their hearts were very heavy. The sun
• 1:20:20
  Speaker 6: was getting low, and the ravens were coming home to
• 1:20:23
  Speaker 6: their nests in the high trees, but one that seemed
• 1:20:26
  Speaker 6: old and weary alighted near them to drink at the stream.
• 1:20:30
  Speaker 6: As they ate, the raven lingered and picked up the
• 1:20:33
  Speaker 6: small crumbs that fell. Brother, said, love Leaves.
• 1:20:37
  Speaker 15: This raven is surely hungry. Let us give it a
• 1:20:40
  Speaker 15: little bit, though it is our last cake.
• 1:20:42
  Speaker 6: Woodwinder agreed, and each gave a bit to the raven.
• 1:20:46
  Speaker 6: But its great bill finished the morsels in a moment, and,
• 1:20:50
  Speaker 6: hopping nearer it looked them in the face by turns.
• 1:20:54
  Speaker 4: The poor raven is still hungry, said.
• 1:20:56
  Speaker 6: Wood Winder, and he gave it another bit. When that
• 1:20:59
  Speaker 6: was god, he came to love Leaves, who gave it
• 1:21:03
  Speaker 6: a bit too, and so on till the raven had
• 1:21:06
  Speaker 6: eaten the whole of their last cake.
• 1:21:09
  Speaker 4: Well, said Woodwinder, at least we can have a drink.
• 1:21:12
  Speaker 6: But as they stooped to the water, there came through
• 1:21:15
  Speaker 6: the oaks another hunter, older than the last, and clothed
• 1:21:19
  Speaker 6: in scarlet about his neck. There hung a golden bugle,
• 1:21:23
  Speaker 6: and in his hands he carried a huge oaken goblet,
• 1:21:27
  Speaker 6: carved with ears of corn and clusters of grapes, rimmed
• 1:21:30
  Speaker 6: with gold, and filled to the brim with wine.
• 1:21:33
  Speaker 7: He also said, leave this muddy water and drink with me.
• 1:21:38
  Speaker 7: It is full of toads and not fit for such
• 1:21:41
  Speaker 7: fair children. Surely you are from Fairyland and were brought
• 1:21:46
  Speaker 7: up in its queen's palace.
• 1:21:48
  Speaker 6: But the children said.
• 1:21:49
  Speaker 4: We will drink nothing but this water, and yonder, lords
• 1:21:52
  Speaker 4: are our fathers. Tell us how the spell may be broken.
• 1:21:55
  Speaker 6: And the hunter turned from them with an angry look,
• 1:21:58
  Speaker 6: poured out the wine on the grass, and went his way.
• 1:22:01
  Speaker 6: When he was gone, the old raven looked up into
• 1:22:04
  Speaker 6: their faces and said, I have.
• 1:22:06
  Speaker 17: Eaten your last cake, and I will tell you how
• 1:22:10
  Speaker 17: the spell may be broken. Yonder is the sun going
• 1:22:15
  Speaker 17: down behind the western trees. Before it sets. Go to
• 1:22:20
  Speaker 17: the lords and tell them how their stewarts used you
• 1:22:24
  Speaker 17: and made you herd hogs for hard hold and drypenny.
• 1:22:30
  Speaker 17: When you've seen them listening, catch up their wooden spades
• 1:22:34
  Speaker 17: and keep them if you can till the sun goes down.
• 1:22:38
  Speaker 6: Wood winder and love leaves thanked the raven and where
• 1:22:42
  Speaker 6: it flew. They never stopped to see, but running through
• 1:22:44
  Speaker 6: the lords began to tell as they were bidden. At first,
• 1:22:48
  Speaker 6: the lords would not listen, but as the children told
• 1:22:51
  Speaker 6: how they had been made to sleep on straw, how
• 1:22:54
  Speaker 6: they had been sent to herd hogs in the wild pasture,
• 1:22:58
  Speaker 6: and what trouble they had with the unruly, the acorn
• 1:23:01
  Speaker 6: planting grew slower, and at last the lords dropped their spades.
• 1:23:06
  Speaker 6: Then Woodwinter, catching up his father's spade, ran to the
• 1:23:10
  Speaker 6: stream and threw it in. Love Leaves did the same
• 1:23:13
  Speaker 6: for the lord of the White Castle. That moment, the
• 1:23:16
  Speaker 6: sun went down behind the western oaks, and the lords
• 1:23:19
  Speaker 6: stood up, looking like men just awakened, on the forest,
• 1:23:24
  Speaker 6: on the sky, and on their children. So this strange
• 1:23:28
  Speaker 6: story has ended. For wood Winder and love Leaves went home,
• 1:23:32
  Speaker 6: rejoicing with their fathers. Each lord returned to his castle,
• 1:23:36
  Speaker 6: and all their people were merry. The fine toys and
• 1:23:39
  Speaker 6: silk clothes, the flower gardens and the best rooms were
• 1:23:43
  Speaker 6: taken from hardhold and drypenny, and the lord's children got
• 1:23:48
  Speaker 6: them again. And the wicked Stewards with their cross boy
• 1:23:51
  Speaker 6: and girl were sent to herd swine and live in
• 1:23:56
  Speaker 6: huts in the wild pasture, which everybody said became them better.
• 1:24:01
  Speaker 6: The Lord of the White Castle never again wished to
• 1:24:04
  Speaker 6: see the old woman that wove her own hair, and
• 1:24:08
  Speaker 6: the Lord of the Gray Castle continued to be his friend.
• 1:24:11
  Speaker 6: As for a woodwinder and loveleaves, they met with no
• 1:24:15
  Speaker 6: more misfortunes, but grew up and were married, and got
• 1:24:18
  Speaker 6: the two castles and broad lands of their fathers. Nor
• 1:24:22
  Speaker 6: did they forget the lonely lady Greensleeves, for it was
• 1:24:26
  Speaker 6: known in the east country that she and her dwarf
• 1:24:30
  Speaker 6: corner always came to feast with them in the Christmas time,
• 1:24:34
  Speaker 6: and at Midsummer they always went to live with her
• 1:24:37
  Speaker 6: in the great oak in the forest.
• 1:24:41
  Speaker 1: End of chapter three. Grannie's Wonderful Chair by Francis Brown.
• 1:24:51
  Speaker 1: This is a LibriVox recording. All LibriVox recordings are in
• 1:24:54
  Speaker 1: the public domain. For more information or to volunteer, please
• 1:24:57
  Speaker 1: visit LibriVox dot org. Readers for chapter four Narrator read
• 1:25:05
  Speaker 1: by Lenat.
• 1:25:05
  Speaker 6: Kaisel, Storytelling Chair read by Phil.
• 1:25:09
  Speaker 2: Sinevere, Snowflower read by Cheyenne.
• 1:25:12
  Speaker 3: Dunel, Princess Old Woman read by Joyce.
• 1:25:16
  Speaker 5: Couch Servant read by Kenfeldt.
• 1:25:21
  Speaker 15: Child Charity read by Beth Thomas.
• 1:25:24
  Speaker 4: Little Man read by Glen PRIVATEA.
• 1:25:27
  Speaker 13: Dog Prince read by Ernest Patinama.
• 1:25:32
  Speaker 14: Little Lady read by Emma Graymore.
• 1:25:34
  Speaker 12: Uncle read by Algi Pag.
• 1:25:37
  Speaker 6: Chapter four, Child Charity.
• 1:25:42
  Speaker 1: Another evening, King Winwelth fell into low spirits and sent
• 1:25:46
  Speaker 1: down a message for Snowflower to come to the highest hall.
• 1:25:50
  Speaker 1: So the little girl went up with her grandmother's chair,
• 1:25:53
  Speaker 1: upon which she laid down her head, saying.
• 1:25:56
  Speaker 2: Chare my grandmother tell me a story.
• 1:25:58
  Speaker 1: The clear voice from under the cushions said, listen to
• 1:26:02
  Speaker 1: the story of child Charity.
• 1:26:05
  Speaker 6: Once upon a time there lived in the West Country
• 1:26:08
  Speaker 6: a little girl who had neither father nor mother. They
• 1:26:11
  Speaker 6: both died when she was very young, and left their
• 1:26:14
  Speaker 6: daughter to the care of her uncle, who was the
• 1:26:17
  Speaker 6: richest farmer in all that country. He had houses and lands,
• 1:26:21
  Speaker 6: flocks and herds, many servants to work about his house
• 1:26:25
  Speaker 6: and fields, a wife who had brought him a great dowry,
• 1:26:29
  Speaker 6: and two fair daughters. All their neighbors, being poor, looked
• 1:26:33
  Speaker 6: up to the family insomuch that they thought themselves great people.
• 1:26:37
  Speaker 6: The father and mother were as proud as peacocks. The
• 1:26:40
  Speaker 6: daughters thought themselves the greatest beauties in the world, and
• 1:26:45
  Speaker 6: not one of the family would speak civilly to anybody
• 1:26:48
  Speaker 6: they thought low. Now it happened that, though she was
• 1:26:52
  Speaker 6: their near relation, they had this opinion of the orphan girl,
• 1:26:56
  Speaker 6: partly because she had no fortune, and partly because of
• 1:27:00
  Speaker 6: her humble, kindly nature. It was said that the more
• 1:27:03
  Speaker 6: needy any creature was, the more ready she was to
• 1:27:07
  Speaker 6: befriend it. So the people of the West Country called
• 1:27:10
  Speaker 6: her child Charity, and if she had any other name,
• 1:27:14
  Speaker 6: I never heard it. Child Charity was thought very mean
• 1:27:18
  Speaker 6: in that proud house. Her uncle would not own her
• 1:27:21
  Speaker 6: for his niece, her cousins would not keep her company.
• 1:27:25
  Speaker 6: Her aunt sent her to work in the dairy and
• 1:27:28
  Speaker 6: to sleep in the back garret, where they kept all
• 1:27:31
  Speaker 6: sorts of lumber and dry herbs for the winter. All
• 1:27:34
  Speaker 6: the servants learned the same lesson, and Child Charity had
• 1:27:38
  Speaker 6: more work than the rest among them. All the day
• 1:27:42
  Speaker 6: she scoured pails, scrubbed dishes, and washed crockery ware. But
• 1:27:47
  Speaker 6: every night she slept in the back garret as sound
• 1:27:49
  Speaker 6: as a princess could in her palace. Her uncle's house
• 1:27:53
  Speaker 6: was large, and white, and stood among green meadows by
• 1:27:56
  Speaker 6: a river's side. In front, it had a porch covered
• 1:28:00
  Speaker 6: with the vine. Behind it had a farm yard in
• 1:28:03
  Speaker 6: high greeneries. Within were two parlors for the rich and
• 1:28:07
  Speaker 6: two kitchens for the poor, which the neighbors thought very grand.
• 1:28:11
  Speaker 6: And one day in the harvest season, when this rich
• 1:28:14
  Speaker 6: farmer's corn had been all cut down and housed, he
• 1:28:18
  Speaker 6: invited them to a harvest supper. The West Country people
• 1:28:22
  Speaker 6: came in their holiday clothes. Such heaps of cakes and cheese,
• 1:28:27
  Speaker 6: such baskets of apples and barrels of ale had never
• 1:28:31
  Speaker 6: been at a feast before. They were making merry in
• 1:28:34
  Speaker 6: kitchen and parlor when a poor old woman came to
• 1:28:38
  Speaker 6: the back door begging for scraps of food and a
• 1:28:41
  Speaker 6: night's lodging. Her clothes were coarse and ragged, her hair
• 1:28:46
  Speaker 6: was scanty and gray, her back was bent, her teeth
• 1:28:50
  Speaker 6: were gone. She had a squinting eye, a clubbed foot,
• 1:28:54
  Speaker 6: and crooked fingers. In short, she was the poorest and
• 1:28:59
  Speaker 6: ugliest old woman that ever came begging. The first who
• 1:29:03
  Speaker 6: saw her was the kitchen maid, and she ordered her
• 1:29:06
  Speaker 6: to be gone for an ugly witch. The next was
• 1:29:10
  Speaker 6: the herd boy, and he threw her a bone. But
• 1:29:13
  Speaker 6: Child Charity, hearing the noise, came out from her seat
• 1:29:17
  Speaker 6: at the foot of the lowest table and asked the
• 1:29:19
  Speaker 6: old woman to take her share of the supper and
• 1:29:22
  Speaker 6: sleep that night in her bed in the back garret.
• 1:29:25
  Speaker 6: The old woman sat down without a word of thanks.
• 1:29:29
  Speaker 6: All the people laughed at Child Charity for giving her
• 1:29:31
  Speaker 6: bed and her supper to a beggar. Her proud cousins
• 1:29:35
  Speaker 6: said it was just like her mean spirit, but Child
• 1:29:39
  Speaker 6: Charity did not mind them. She scraped the pots for
• 1:29:43
  Speaker 6: her supper that night and slept on a sack among
• 1:29:45
  Speaker 6: the lumber while the old woman rested in her warm bed,
• 1:29:50
  Speaker 6: And next morning, before the little girl awoke, she was
• 1:29:53
  Speaker 6: up and gone without so much as saying thank you
• 1:29:57
  Speaker 6: or good morning. That day, all the s the servants
• 1:30:00
  Speaker 6: were sick after the feast, and mostly crossed too, so
• 1:30:04
  Speaker 6: you may judge how civil they were. When at supper time,
• 1:30:08
  Speaker 6: who should come back to the back door but the
• 1:30:10
  Speaker 6: old woman again, asking for broken scraps of food and
• 1:30:15
  Speaker 6: a night's lodging. No one would listen to her or
• 1:30:18
  Speaker 6: give her a morsel till Child Charity rose from her
• 1:30:23
  Speaker 6: seat at the foot of the lowest table, and kindly
• 1:30:26
  Speaker 6: asked her to take her supper and sleep in her
• 1:30:30
  Speaker 6: bed in the back garret. Again, the old woman sat
• 1:30:33
  Speaker 6: down without a word. Child Charity scraped the pots for
• 1:30:37
  Speaker 6: her supper and slept on the sack. In the morning,
• 1:30:41
  Speaker 6: the old woman was gone, but for six nights after,
• 1:30:45
  Speaker 6: as sure as the supper was spread, there was she
• 1:30:49
  Speaker 6: at the back door, and the little girl always asked
• 1:30:52
  Speaker 6: her in. Child Charity's aunt said she would let her
• 1:30:56
  Speaker 6: get enough of beggars. Her cousins made game of what
• 1:31:00
  Speaker 6: they called her genteel visitor. Sometimes the old woman said.
• 1:31:06
  Speaker 3: Child, why don't you make this bed softer? And why
• 1:31:10
  Speaker 3: are your blankets so thin?
• 1:31:12
  Speaker 6: But she never gave her a word of thanks, nor
• 1:31:15
  Speaker 6: a civil good morning. At last, on the ninth night
• 1:31:19
  Speaker 6: from her first coming, when child Charity was getting used
• 1:31:22
  Speaker 6: to scraping the pots and sleeping on the sack, her
• 1:31:25
  Speaker 6: knock came to the door, and there she stood with
• 1:31:29
  Speaker 6: an ugly, ashy colored dog, so stupid looking and clumsy
• 1:31:33
  Speaker 6: that no herd boy.
• 1:31:34
  Speaker 3: Would keep him good evening, My little girl.
• 1:31:38
  Speaker 6: She said, when child Charity opened the.
• 1:31:40
  Speaker 3: Door, I will not have your supper in bed tonight,
• 1:31:43
  Speaker 3: I am going on a long journey to see a friend.
• 1:31:46
  Speaker 3: But here's a dog of mine whom nobody in all
• 1:31:50
  Speaker 3: the West country will keep from me. He's a little
• 1:31:53
  Speaker 3: cross and not very handsome. I leave him to your
• 1:31:57
  Speaker 3: care till the shortest day in all the year. Then
• 1:32:00
  Speaker 3: you and I will count for his keeping.
• 1:32:03
  Speaker 6: When the old woman had said the last word, she
• 1:32:06
  Speaker 6: set off with such speed that Child Charity lost sight
• 1:32:09
  Speaker 6: of her in a minute. The ugly dog began to
• 1:32:13
  Speaker 6: fawn upon her, but he snarled at everybody else. The
• 1:32:18
  Speaker 6: servant said he was a disgrace to the house. The
• 1:32:21
  Speaker 6: cousins wanted him drowned, and it was with great trouble
• 1:32:25
  Speaker 6: that Child Charity got leave to keep him in an old,
• 1:32:28
  Speaker 6: ruined cow house. Ugly and cross as the dog was,
• 1:32:33
  Speaker 6: he fawned on her, and the old woman had left
• 1:32:37
  Speaker 6: him in her care. So the little girl gave him
• 1:32:40
  Speaker 6: part of all her meals, and when the hard frost came,
• 1:32:44
  Speaker 6: took him to her own back garret. Because the cow
• 1:32:48
  Speaker 6: house was damp and cold in the long nights, the
• 1:32:51
  Speaker 6: dog lay quietly on some straw in a corner. Chow
• 1:32:56
  Speaker 6: Charity slept soundly, but every morning the servants would say
• 1:32:59
  Speaker 6: to her.
• 1:33:00
  Speaker 7: What great light and fine talking was that in your
• 1:33:04
  Speaker 7: back garret?
• 1:33:05
  Speaker 15: There was no light but the moon shining in through
• 1:33:07
  Speaker 15: the shutterless window, and no talk that I heard.
• 1:33:10
  Speaker 6: Said child Charity. And she thought they must have been dreaming.
• 1:33:15
  Speaker 6: But night after night, when any of them awoke in
• 1:33:17
  Speaker 6: the dark and silent hour that comes before the morning,
• 1:33:21
  Speaker 6: they saw a light brighter and clearer than the Christmas fire,
• 1:33:25
  Speaker 6: and heard voices like those of lords and ladies. In
• 1:33:28
  Speaker 6: the back garret. Partly from fear and partly from laziness,
• 1:33:32
  Speaker 6: none of the servants would rise to see what might
• 1:33:35
  Speaker 6: be there, till at length, when the winter nights were
• 1:33:38
  Speaker 6: at the longest, the little parlor maid, who did least
• 1:33:41
  Speaker 6: work and got most favor because she gathered news for
• 1:33:44
  Speaker 6: her mistress, crept out of bed when all the rest
• 1:33:48
  Speaker 6: were sleeping and set herself to watch it a small
• 1:33:51
  Speaker 6: hole in the door. She saw the dog lying quietly
• 1:33:54
  Speaker 6: in the corner, child Charity sleeping soundly in her bed,
• 1:33:59
  Speaker 6: and the moon shining through the shutterless window. But an
• 1:34:03
  Speaker 6: hour before daybreak there came a glare of lights and
• 1:34:07
  Speaker 6: a sound of far off bugles. The window opened, and
• 1:34:11
  Speaker 6: in marched a troop of little men, clothed in crimson
• 1:34:14
  Speaker 6: and gold, and burying every man a torch, till the
• 1:34:18
  Speaker 6: room looked bright as day. They marched up with great
• 1:34:22
  Speaker 6: respect to the dog where he lay on the straw,
• 1:34:25
  Speaker 6: and the most richly clothed among them.
• 1:34:27
  Speaker 4: Said, well, Prince, we have prepared the banquet hall. What
• 1:34:30
  Speaker 4: will your Highness please that we do next?
• 1:34:33
  Speaker 6: You have done well, said the dog.
• 1:34:36
  Speaker 13: Now prepare the feast and see that all things are
• 1:34:38
  Speaker 13: in the best order for the Princess. And I mean
• 1:34:41
  Speaker 13: to bring a stranger who never feasted in our horse before.
• 1:34:45
  Speaker 4: Your Highness's commands shall be obeyed.
• 1:34:48
  Speaker 6: Said the little man, making another bow, and he and
• 1:34:51
  Speaker 6: his company passed out of the window. By and by
• 1:34:55
  Speaker 6: there was another glare of lights and a sound like
• 1:34:58
  Speaker 6: far off flutes. The window opened, and there came in
• 1:35:02
  Speaker 6: a company of little ladies, clad in velvet and each
• 1:35:06
  Speaker 6: carrying a crystal lamp. They also walked up to the dog,
• 1:35:10
  Speaker 6: and the gayest one said, Royal.
• 1:35:13
  Speaker 14: Prince, we have prepared the carpets and the curtains. What
• 1:35:16
  Speaker 14: will your highest please that we do next?
• 1:35:18
  Speaker 6: You have done well, said the dog.
• 1:35:21
  Speaker 13: Now prepare the ropes and lettle. Things be of the
• 1:35:24
  Speaker 13: best for the princess, and I will bring with us
• 1:35:27
  Speaker 13: a stranger who never feasted in our holes.
• 1:35:30
  Speaker 14: Before Your Highness's commands shall.
• 1:35:32
  Speaker 6: Be obeyed, said the little lady, making a low curtesy,
• 1:35:36
  Speaker 6: and she and her company passed out through the window,
• 1:35:39
  Speaker 6: which closed quietly behind them. The dog stretched himself out
• 1:35:44
  Speaker 6: upon the straw. The little girl turned in her sleep,
• 1:35:47
  Speaker 6: and the moon shone in on the back garret. The
• 1:35:51
  Speaker 6: parlor maid was so much amazed and so eager to
• 1:35:56
  Speaker 6: tell this story to her mistress, that she could not
• 1:35:58
  Speaker 6: close her eyes that night, and was up before cock crow.
• 1:36:03
  Speaker 6: But when she told it, her mistress called her a
• 1:36:05
  Speaker 6: silly winch to have such foolish dreams, and scolded her
• 1:36:09
  Speaker 6: so that she did not dare to speak about what
• 1:36:12
  Speaker 6: she had seen to the servants. Nevertheless, child Charity's aunt
• 1:36:17
  Speaker 6: thought there might be something in it worth knowing, so
• 1:36:21
  Speaker 6: next night, when all the house were asleep, she crept
• 1:36:25
  Speaker 6: out of bed and set herself to watch at the
• 1:36:27
  Speaker 6: back garret door. There she saw just what the maid
• 1:36:32
  Speaker 6: told her. The little men with the torches and the
• 1:36:34
  Speaker 6: little ladies with the crystal lamps come into the dog,
• 1:36:38
  Speaker 6: and the same words passed. Only he said to the one, no,
• 1:36:42
  Speaker 6: prepare the prisons, and to the other, prepare the jewels.
• 1:36:45
  Speaker 6: When they were gone, the dog stretched himself on the straw.
• 1:36:49
  Speaker 6: Child Charity turned in her sleep, and the moon shone
• 1:36:52
  Speaker 6: in on the back garret. The mistress could not close
• 1:36:57
  Speaker 6: her eyes any more than the maid, so so eager
• 1:37:00
  Speaker 6: was she to tell the story. She woke up Child
• 1:37:04
  Speaker 6: Charity's rich uncle before cock crow. But when he heard it,
• 1:37:08
  Speaker 6: he laughed at her for a foolish woman, and advised
• 1:37:12
  Speaker 6: her not to repeat the like before her neighbors, lest
• 1:37:16
  Speaker 6: they should think she had lost her senses. The mistress
• 1:37:20
  Speaker 6: could say no more, and the day passed. But that
• 1:37:23
  Speaker 6: night the master thought he would like to see what
• 1:37:25
  Speaker 6: went on in the garret, so when all the house
• 1:37:29
  Speaker 6: were asleep, he slipped out of bed and set himself
• 1:37:33
  Speaker 6: to watch at the hole in the door. The same
• 1:37:36
  Speaker 6: thing happened again, that the maid and the mistress saw
• 1:37:40
  Speaker 6: the little men in crimson with their torches, and the
• 1:37:43
  Speaker 6: little ladies in rose colored velvet with their lamps, came
• 1:37:47
  Speaker 6: in at the window and bowed low to the dog,
• 1:37:50
  Speaker 6: the one saying.
• 1:37:52
  Speaker 4: Royal Prince, we have prepared the presents, and the.
• 1:37:54
  Speaker 14: Other royal prince we have prepared the jewels.
• 1:37:58
  Speaker 6: The dog said to the all you have done well.
• 1:38:02
  Speaker 13: Tomorrow, come and meet me and the princess with horses
• 1:38:05
  Speaker 13: and chariots, and to let all things be done in
• 1:38:08
  Speaker 13: the best way, for we will bring a stranger from
• 1:38:11
  Speaker 13: this house who has never traveled with us nor feasted
• 1:38:14
  Speaker 13: in our horse before.
• 1:38:16
  Speaker 6: The little men and the little ladies said.
• 1:38:19
  Speaker 4: Your Highness's commands shall be obeyed.
• 1:38:21
  Speaker 14: Your Highness's commands shall be obeyed.
• 1:38:24
  Speaker 6: When they had gone out through the window, the ugly
• 1:38:26
  Speaker 6: Dog stretched himself out on the straw. Child Charity turned
• 1:38:30
  Speaker 6: in her sleep, and the moon shone in on the
• 1:38:33
  Speaker 6: back garret. The Master could not close his eyes any
• 1:38:37
  Speaker 6: more than the maid or the mistress. He remembered to
• 1:38:41
  Speaker 6: have heard his grandfather say that somewhere near his meadows
• 1:38:45
  Speaker 6: there lay a path leading to the fairies country, and
• 1:38:48
  Speaker 6: the haymakers used to see it shining through the gray
• 1:38:51
  Speaker 6: summer morning as the fairy bands went home. Nobody had
• 1:38:56
  Speaker 6: heard or seen the like for many years, but the
• 1:38:59
  Speaker 6: Master thought that the doings in his back garret must
• 1:39:02
  Speaker 6: be a fairy business, and the ugly dog a person
• 1:39:05
  Speaker 6: of great account. His chief wonder was, however, what visitor
• 1:39:10
  Speaker 6: the fairies intended to take from his house, And after
• 1:39:14
  Speaker 6: thinking the matter over, he was sure it must be
• 1:39:17
  Speaker 6: one of his daughters. They were so handsome and had
• 1:39:21
  Speaker 6: such fine clothes. So child Charity's rich uncle made it
• 1:39:26
  Speaker 6: his first business that morning to get ready a breakfast
• 1:39:29
  Speaker 6: of roast mutton for the ugly dog and carry it
• 1:39:32
  Speaker 6: to him in the cow house. But not a morsel
• 1:39:36
  Speaker 6: with the dog taste.
• 1:39:37
  Speaker 12: The pitties of strange ways.
• 1:39:40
  Speaker 6: Said the master to himself. But he called his daughters
• 1:39:43
  Speaker 6: and bade them dress themselves in their best, for he
• 1:39:46
  Speaker 6: could not say which of them might be called into
• 1:39:48
  Speaker 6: great company before nightfall. Child Charity's cousins, hearing this, put
• 1:39:54
  Speaker 6: on the richest of their silks and laces, and shrudded
• 1:39:57
  Speaker 6: like peacocks from kitchen to parlor all day. They were
• 1:40:01
  Speaker 6: in very bad humor when night fell and nobody had come.
• 1:40:05
  Speaker 6: But just as the family were sitting down to supper,
• 1:40:09
  Speaker 6: the ugly dog began to bark, and the old woman's
• 1:40:12
  Speaker 6: knock was heard at the back door. Child Charity opened
• 1:40:16
  Speaker 6: it and was going to offer her bed and supper
• 1:40:18
  Speaker 6: as usual, when the old woman said.
• 1:40:21
  Speaker 3: This is the shortest day in all the year, and
• 1:40:24
  Speaker 3: I am going home to hold a feast after my travels.
• 1:40:27
  Speaker 3: I see if you'd taken good care of my dog,
• 1:40:30
  Speaker 3: And now if you'll come with me to my house,
• 1:40:33
  Speaker 3: he and I will do our best to entertain you.
• 1:40:36
  Speaker 3: Here is our company.
• 1:40:38
  Speaker 6: As the old woman spoke, there was a sound of
• 1:40:40
  Speaker 6: far off flutes and bugles, then a glare of lights,
• 1:40:44
  Speaker 6: and a great company, clad so grandly that they shone
• 1:40:48
  Speaker 6: with gold and jewels, came in open chariots, covered with
• 1:40:52
  Speaker 6: gilding and drawn by snow white horses. The first and
• 1:40:56
  Speaker 6: finest of the chariots was empty. The old woman led
• 1:41:01
  Speaker 6: child Charity to it by the hand, and the ugly
• 1:41:04
  Speaker 6: dog jumped in before her. The proud cousins and all
• 1:41:08
  Speaker 6: their finery had by this time come to the door,
• 1:41:11
  Speaker 6: but nobody wanted them no. Sooner was the old woman
• 1:41:15
  Speaker 6: and her dog within the chariot than a wonderful change
• 1:41:18
  Speaker 6: passed over them. For the ugly old woman turned at
• 1:41:23
  Speaker 6: once to a beautiful young princess with long golden curls
• 1:41:27
  Speaker 6: and a robe of green and gold, while the ugly
• 1:41:30
  Speaker 6: dog at her side started up a fair young prince
• 1:41:34
  Speaker 6: with nut brown hair, and a robe of purple and silver.
• 1:41:39
  Speaker 6: We are, said they. As the chariots drove on.
• 1:41:42
  Speaker 13: The Prince and Princess of Fairy landed, And there was
• 1:41:46
  Speaker 13: the wages between.
• 1:41:46
  Speaker 3: Us, whether or not there were good people still to
• 1:41:50
  Speaker 3: be found in these faults, And pretty times.
• 1:41:52
  Speaker 6: One say yes and.
• 1:41:53
  Speaker 9: The other said no.
• 1:41:56
  Speaker 6: And I have lost, said the prince.
• 1:41:58
  Speaker 13: And must pay the feast and presents.
• 1:42:02
  Speaker 6: Child Charity never heard any more of that story. Some
• 1:42:06
  Speaker 6: of the farmer's household, who were looking after them, said
• 1:42:10
  Speaker 6: the chariots had gone one way across the meadows, some
• 1:42:13
  Speaker 6: said they had gone another, And till this day they
• 1:42:17
  Speaker 6: cannot agree upon the way they went. But Child Charity
• 1:42:21
  Speaker 6: went with that noble company into a country such as
• 1:42:24
  Speaker 6: she had never seen, for primroses covered all the ground,
• 1:42:29
  Speaker 6: and the light was always like that of a summer evening.
• 1:42:32
  Speaker 6: They took her to a royal palace, where there was
• 1:42:35
  Speaker 6: nothing but feasting and dancing. For seven days. She had
• 1:42:39
  Speaker 6: robes of pale green and velvet to wear, and slept
• 1:42:42
  Speaker 6: in a room inlaid with ivory. When the feast was done,
• 1:42:46
  Speaker 6: the Prince and princess gave her such heaps of gold
• 1:42:50
  Speaker 6: and jewels that she could not carry them, but they
• 1:42:53
  Speaker 6: gave her a chariot to go home in, drawn by
• 1:42:55
  Speaker 6: six white horses. On the seventh night, which happened to
• 1:42:59
  Speaker 6: be Christmas time, when the farmer's family had settled in
• 1:43:03
  Speaker 6: their own minds that she would never come back, and
• 1:43:06
  Speaker 6: were sitting down to supper, they heard the sound of
• 1:43:09
  Speaker 6: her coachman's bugle and saw her alight with all the
• 1:43:13
  Speaker 6: jewels in gold, at the very back door where she
• 1:43:16
  Speaker 6: had brought in the ugly old woman. The fairy chariot
• 1:43:20
  Speaker 6: drove away and never again came back to that farmhouse
• 1:43:24
  Speaker 6: after but child Charity scoured and scrubbed no more, for
• 1:43:29
  Speaker 6: she grew a great lady, even in the eyes of
• 1:43:33
  Speaker 6: her proud cousins.
• 1:43:37
  Speaker 1: End of chapter four. Grannie's Wonderful Chair by Francis Brown.
• 1:43:47
  Speaker 1: This is a LibriVox recording. All LibriVox recordings are in
• 1:43:50
  Speaker 1: the public domain. For more information or to volunteer, please
• 1:43:54
  Speaker 1: visit LibriVox dot org. Readers for chapter five read by Linak.
• 1:44:01
  Speaker 6: Gaisl Storytelling Chair read by Phil Chamber.
• 1:44:06
  Speaker 2: Snowflower read by Cheyenne Daniel.
• 1:44:09
  Speaker 3: Dame Sivil read by Joyce couch.
• 1:44:12
  Speaker 7: Is Sour read by ken Feldt.
• 1:44:16
  Speaker 6: Civil read by David Lawrence, Lord Mackerel read by Algie pag.
• 1:44:24
  Speaker 15: Daughter one read by Rashada, Daughter two read by Beth Thomas.
• 1:44:30
  Speaker 14: Daughter three read by Emmy Graymore.
• 1:44:34
  Speaker 16: Mother of Daughter three, read by Calinda.
• 1:44:39
  Speaker 1: Chapter five, sour and Civil. Once again, King Winwelth wished
• 1:44:45
  Speaker 1: to hear a story told by the wonderful chair, and
• 1:44:48
  Speaker 1: orders were given for Snowflower to bring it to the
• 1:44:51
  Speaker 1: King's hall. She again brought the chair and laid her
• 1:44:54
  Speaker 1: head on the cushion, saying.
• 1:44:56
  Speaker 2: Here, my grandmother tell me a story.
• 1:45:00
  Speaker 1: Always from under the cushion.
• 1:45:01
  Speaker 6: At once said, listen to the story of sour and Civil.
• 1:45:06
  Speaker 6: Once upon a time there stood upon the sea coast
• 1:45:09
  Speaker 6: of the West Country, a small village of low cottages,
• 1:45:13
  Speaker 6: where no one lived but fishermen all round. It was
• 1:45:17
  Speaker 6: a broad beach of snow white sand, where nothing was
• 1:45:20
  Speaker 6: to be seen but gulls and other sea birds, and
• 1:45:24
  Speaker 6: long tangled seaweeds cast up by the tide that came
• 1:45:27
  Speaker 6: and went night and day, summer and winter. There was
• 1:45:31
  Speaker 6: no harbor or port on all that. Shore ships passed
• 1:45:35
  Speaker 6: by the distance with their white sails set, and on
• 1:45:39
  Speaker 6: the land side there lay wide grassy downs, where peasants
• 1:45:43
  Speaker 6: lived and shepherds fed their flocks. There, families never wanted
• 1:45:48
  Speaker 6: for plenty of herryings and mackerel, and what they had
• 1:45:51
  Speaker 6: to spare the landsmen bought from them at the village
• 1:45:54
  Speaker 6: markets on the downs, giving them an exchange butter, cheese
• 1:45:58
  Speaker 6: and corn. The two best fishermen in that village were
• 1:46:02
  Speaker 6: the sons of two old widows who had no other
• 1:46:05
  Speaker 6: children and happened to be near neighbors. Their family names
• 1:46:10
  Speaker 6: were short, for they called the one Sour and the
• 1:46:13
  Speaker 6: other Civil. They were not related to one another so
• 1:46:17
  Speaker 6: far as I ever heard, but they had only one
• 1:46:21
  Speaker 6: boat and always fished together. Though their names expressed the
• 1:46:25
  Speaker 6: difference of their natures, for Civil never used a hard
• 1:46:29
  Speaker 6: word where a soft one would do, and when Sorow
• 1:46:33
  Speaker 6: was not snarling at somebody, he was sure to be
• 1:46:36
  Speaker 6: grumbling at everything. Nevertheless, they agreed very well and were
• 1:46:40
  Speaker 6: lucky fishers. Both were strong, active, and of good courage.
• 1:46:45
  Speaker 6: One winter's night or summer's morning, they would steer out
• 1:46:49
  Speaker 6: to sea, far beyond the boats of their neighbors, and
• 1:46:52
  Speaker 6: never came home without some fish to cook and some
• 1:46:55
  Speaker 6: to spare. Their mothers were proud of them, each in
• 1:46:59
  Speaker 6: her own way, for the saying held good like mother,
• 1:47:04
  Speaker 6: like sun. Dame Civil thought the whole world didn't hold
• 1:47:07
  Speaker 6: a better than her son, and her boy was the
• 1:47:10
  Speaker 6: only creature at whom Dame Sour didn't scold and frown.
• 1:47:15
  Speaker 6: The village was divided in opinion about the young fishermen.
• 1:47:19
  Speaker 6: Some thought Civil the better, some said without Sour he
• 1:47:22
  Speaker 6: would catch nothing. So things went on till one day,
• 1:47:26
  Speaker 6: about the fall of winter, when mists were gathering darkly
• 1:47:30
  Speaker 6: on sea and sky, and the air was chill and frosty.
• 1:47:34
  Speaker 6: All the boat men of the hamlet went out to fish,
• 1:47:37
  Speaker 6: and so did Sour and Civil. That day they had
• 1:47:41
  Speaker 6: not their usual luck, cast their nets where they would
• 1:47:45
  Speaker 6: not a single fish came in their neighbors, caught boat loads,
• 1:47:49
  Speaker 6: and went home. Sour said, laughing at them. But when
• 1:47:53
  Speaker 6: the sea was growing crimson with the sunset, their nets
• 1:47:56
  Speaker 6: were empty, and they were tired. Himself did not like
• 1:48:01
  Speaker 6: to go home without fish. It would hurt the high
• 1:48:04
  Speaker 6: opinion formed of them in the village. Besides, the sea
• 1:48:08
  Speaker 6: was calm and the evening fair, And as a last attempt,
• 1:48:12
  Speaker 6: they steered still farther out and cast their nets beside
• 1:48:16
  Speaker 6: a rock which rose rough and gray above the water,
• 1:48:20
  Speaker 6: and was called the Murman's Seat, from an old report
• 1:48:23
  Speaker 6: that the fishermen's fathers had seen the murhman or sea
• 1:48:26
  Speaker 6: people sitting there on moonlit nights. Nobody believed that rumor now,
• 1:48:32
  Speaker 6: but the villagers did not like to fish there. The
• 1:48:35
  Speaker 6: water was said to be very deep, and sudden squalls
• 1:48:38
  Speaker 6: were apt to trouble it. But Sour and Civil were
• 1:48:42
  Speaker 6: right glad to see, by the moving of their lines
• 1:48:45
  Speaker 6: that there was something in their net and gladder. Still,
• 1:48:48
  Speaker 6: when they found it so heavy that all their strength
• 1:48:52
  Speaker 6: was required to draw it up. Scarcely had they landed
• 1:48:55
  Speaker 6: it on the Murman's seat, when their joy was changed
• 1:48:59
  Speaker 6: to sorrow. Far besides a few starved mackerel, the net
• 1:49:04
  Speaker 6: held nothing but a huge, ugly fish as long as Sivil,
• 1:49:09
  Speaker 6: who was taller than Sour, with a large snout, a
• 1:49:13
  Speaker 6: long beard, and a skin covered with prickles.
• 1:49:17
  Speaker 7: Such a horrid, ugly creature.
• 1:49:20
  Speaker 6: Said Sour, as they shook it out of the net
• 1:49:22
  Speaker 6: on the rough rock and gathered up the mackerel.
• 1:49:25
  Speaker 7: We needn't fish here any more. How, they will mock
• 1:49:28
  Speaker 7: us in the village for staying out so late and
• 1:49:31
  Speaker 7: bringing home so little.
• 1:49:33
  Speaker 6: Let us try again, said Sivil, as he sat his
• 1:49:36
  Speaker 6: creel of mackerel in the boat.
• 1:49:38
  Speaker 7: Not another cast will I make tonight?
• 1:49:41
  Speaker 6: And what more sorrow would have said was cut short
• 1:49:45
  Speaker 6: by the great fish. For looking round at them, it
• 1:49:48
  Speaker 6: spoke out.
• 1:49:49
  Speaker 12: I suppose you don't fit me worth taking home in
• 1:49:52
  Speaker 12: your dirty boat. But OI can tell you that if
• 1:49:55
  Speaker 12: you were dow emoy country, no, you would be feet
• 1:50:00
  Speaker 12: make company.
• 1:50:01
  Speaker 6: Sour and Civil were very much surprised to hear the
• 1:50:05
  Speaker 6: fish speak. The first could not think of a cross
• 1:50:08
  Speaker 6: word to say, but Sybil made answer in his usual way. Indeed,
• 1:50:12
  Speaker 6: my lord, we beg your pardon, but our boat is
• 1:50:15
  Speaker 6: too late to carry such a fish as you.
• 1:50:18
  Speaker 12: You do well to call me load, said the fish.
• 1:50:22
  Speaker 12: For so oieb, though it was hard to expect, you
• 1:50:25
  Speaker 12: would have known have great awards in this dress. Here
• 1:50:29
  Speaker 12: with it, help me off your rock, for O must
• 1:50:32
  Speaker 12: go home, and for your civil way of speaking, I
• 1:50:36
  Speaker 12: will give me my daughter in marriage if you will
• 1:50:39
  Speaker 12: come and see me this day twelve month.
• 1:50:42
  Speaker 6: Syvil helped the great fish off the rock with as
• 1:50:45
  Speaker 6: great respect as his fear would allow him. Sour was
• 1:50:49
  Speaker 6: so frightened at the whole business that he said not
• 1:50:52
  Speaker 6: a word till they got safe home. But from that
• 1:50:55
  Speaker 6: day forward, when he wanted to put Civil down, it
• 1:50:58
  Speaker 6: was his custom to tell him and his mother that
• 1:51:01
  Speaker 6: he would get no wife. But the ugly fish's daughter,
• 1:51:05
  Speaker 6: Old Dame Sower, heard this story from her son and
• 1:51:08
  Speaker 6: told it over the whole village. Some people wondered, but
• 1:51:12
  Speaker 6: the most part laughed that it is a good joke.
• 1:51:15
  Speaker 6: And Civil and his mother were never known to be angry.
• 1:51:18
  Speaker 6: But on that day Dame Sivil advised her son never
• 1:51:22
  Speaker 6: to fish with sour again. And Sivil got an old
• 1:51:26
  Speaker 6: skiff which one of the fishermen was going to break
• 1:51:28
  Speaker 6: up for firewood, and cobbled it up for himself. In
• 1:51:32
  Speaker 6: that skiff he went to see all the winter and
• 1:51:35
  Speaker 6: all the summer. But though Civil was brave and skillful,
• 1:51:38
  Speaker 6: he could catch little because his boat was bad, and
• 1:51:42
  Speaker 6: everybody but his mother began to think him of no value. Sower,
• 1:51:47
  Speaker 6: having the good boat, got a new comrade and had
• 1:51:51
  Speaker 6: the praise of being the best fisherman. Poor Sivil's heart
• 1:51:55
  Speaker 6: was getting low as the summer wore away. The fish
• 1:51:58
  Speaker 6: had grown scarce on the coast, and the fishermen had
• 1:52:02
  Speaker 6: to steer farther out to sea. One evening, when he
• 1:52:05
  Speaker 6: had toiled all day and caught nothing, Sivil thought he
• 1:52:08
  Speaker 6: would go farther too and try his fortune. Beside the
• 1:52:11
  Speaker 6: Mermaan's rock. The sea was calm and the evening fair.
• 1:52:15
  Speaker 6: Civil did not remember that it was the very day
• 1:52:18
  Speaker 6: on which his troubles began by the great fish talking
• 1:52:22
  Speaker 6: to him twelve months before. As he neared the rock,
• 1:52:25
  Speaker 6: the sun was setting, and much surprised was the fishermen
• 1:52:30
  Speaker 6: to see upon it three fair ladies with sea green
• 1:52:34
  Speaker 6: gowns and strings of great pearls wound round their long
• 1:52:37
  Speaker 6: fair hair. Two of them were waving their hands to him.
• 1:52:41
  Speaker 6: They were the tallest and most stately ladies he had
• 1:52:44
  Speaker 6: ever seen, But Sivil could perceive as he came nearer
• 1:52:49
  Speaker 6: that there was no color in their cheeks, that their
• 1:52:52
  Speaker 6: hair had a strange bluish shade, like that of deep
• 1:52:56
  Speaker 6: sea water, and there was a fiery look in their
• 1:52:59
  Speaker 6: eyes that frightened him. The third, who was not so tall,
• 1:53:03
  Speaker 6: did not notice him at all, but kept her eyes
• 1:53:06
  Speaker 6: fixed on the setting sun. Though her look was full
• 1:53:09
  Speaker 6: of sadness. Sivil could see that there was a faint
• 1:53:12
  Speaker 6: rosy bloom on her cheek, and that her hair was
• 1:53:15
  Speaker 6: a gold and yellow, and her eyes were mild and clear,
• 1:53:19
  Speaker 6: like those of his mother.
• 1:53:21
  Speaker 19: Welcome, Welcome, noble fishermen, cried the two ladies.
• 1:53:25
  Speaker 15: A father has sent us for you to visit him.
• 1:53:29
  Speaker 6: With one bound, they leaped into his boat, bringing with
• 1:53:32
  Speaker 6: them the smaller lady, who said, Oh.
• 1:53:34
  Speaker 14: Bright sun and brave sky, that I see so seldom.
• 1:53:38
  Speaker 6: But Civil heard no more, for his boat went down
• 1:53:41
  Speaker 6: miles deep in the sea, and he thought himself drowning.
• 1:53:45
  Speaker 6: But one lady had caught him by the right arm,
• 1:53:48
  Speaker 6: and the other by the left, and pulled him into
• 1:53:50
  Speaker 6: the mouth of a rocky cave, still down and down,
• 1:53:54
  Speaker 6: as if on a steep hillside. The cave was very long,
• 1:53:58
  Speaker 6: but he grew wider as they came to the bottom.
• 1:54:01
  Speaker 6: Then Sivil saw a faint light and walked out with
• 1:54:04
  Speaker 6: his fair company into the country of the sea people.
• 1:54:07
  Speaker 6: In that land there grew neither grass nor flowers, bushes
• 1:54:11
  Speaker 6: nor trees, but the ground was covered with bright colored
• 1:54:14
  Speaker 6: shells and pebbles. There were hills of marble and rocks
• 1:54:18
  Speaker 6: of spar. Over All was a cold blue sky with
• 1:54:22
  Speaker 6: no sun, but a light clear and silvery as that
• 1:54:25
  Speaker 6: of the harvest moon. The fishermen could see no smoking chimneys,
• 1:54:30
  Speaker 6: but there were caves in the rocks of spar, and
• 1:54:33
  Speaker 6: halls in the marble hills where lived the sea people
• 1:54:36
  Speaker 6: with whom old stories say fishermen and sailors used to
• 1:54:39
  Speaker 6: meet on lonely capes and headlands in the simple times
• 1:54:43
  Speaker 6: of the world. Forth they came from all parts to
• 1:54:46
  Speaker 6: see the stranger. Mermen with long white beards, and mermaids
• 1:54:51
  Speaker 6: such as walk with the fishermen, all clad in sea
• 1:54:54
  Speaker 6: green and decked with strings of pearls, but every one
• 1:54:58
  Speaker 6: with the same colorless f and the same while the
• 1:55:02
  Speaker 6: light in their eyes. The mermaids led Civil up one
• 1:55:06
  Speaker 6: of the marble hills to a great cavern with halls
• 1:55:09
  Speaker 6: and rooms like a palace. Their floors were of white marble,
• 1:55:13
  Speaker 6: their walls of red granite, and the roofs inlaid with coral.
• 1:55:17
  Speaker 6: Thousands of crystal lamps lit the palace. There were seats
• 1:55:21
  Speaker 6: and tables hewn out of shining spar, and a great
• 1:55:25
  Speaker 6: company sat feasting. But what most amazed Civil was the
• 1:55:30
  Speaker 6: number of cups, flagons, and goblets made of gold and
• 1:55:34
  Speaker 6: silver of such different shapes and patterns that they seemed
• 1:55:38
  Speaker 6: to have been gathered from all the countries in the world.
• 1:55:41
  Speaker 6: In the chief hall there sat a Mermaan on a
• 1:55:44
  Speaker 6: stately chair, with more jewels than all the rest about him.
• 1:55:49
  Speaker 6: Before him, the mermaids brought Civil, saying, Fama, here is
• 1:55:53
  Speaker 6: our guest.
• 1:55:55
  Speaker 12: Welcome, noble fishermen.
• 1:55:57
  Speaker 6: Cried the merman in a voice which Civil remembered with terror,
• 1:56:01
  Speaker 6: for it was that of the great ugly fish.
• 1:56:03
  Speaker 12: Welcome to our holes. Sit down and face with us,
• 1:56:08
  Speaker 12: and then charge which of my daughters you will have
• 1:56:12
  Speaker 12: for a bride.
• 1:56:14
  Speaker 6: Sybil had never felt himself so greatly frightened in all
• 1:56:18
  Speaker 6: his life. How was he to get home to his mother?
• 1:56:21
  Speaker 6: And what would the old dame think when the dark
• 1:56:24
  Speaker 6: night came without bringing him home? There was no use
• 1:56:27
  Speaker 6: in talking. Sybl had wisdom enough to see that. He
• 1:56:31
  Speaker 6: therefore tried to take things quietly, and, having thanked the
• 1:56:34
  Speaker 6: Mermaan for so kindly inviting him, he took the seat
• 1:56:38
  Speaker 6: set apart for him on his right hand. Sivil was
• 1:56:42
  Speaker 6: hungry with a long day at sea, but there was
• 1:56:44
  Speaker 6: no want of fare on that table. Meats and wines
• 1:56:48
  Speaker 6: such as he had never tasted, were set before him
• 1:56:51
  Speaker 6: in the riches of golden dishes. But hungry as he was,
• 1:56:55
  Speaker 6: the fisherman felt that everything there had the taste and
• 1:56:58
  Speaker 6: smell of the sea. If the fisherman had been the
• 1:57:01
  Speaker 6: lord of lands and castles, he would not have been
• 1:57:04
  Speaker 6: treated with more respect. The two mermaids sat by him.
• 1:57:09
  Speaker 6: One filled his plate, another filled his goblet, but the
• 1:57:13
  Speaker 6: third only looked at him in a hidden warning way
• 1:57:16
  Speaker 6: when nobody saw her. Sivil soon finished his share of
• 1:57:20
  Speaker 6: the feast, and then the merman showed him all the
• 1:57:23
  Speaker 6: fine things in his cavern. The halls were full of company,
• 1:57:27
  Speaker 6: some feasting, some dancing, and some playing all kinds of games.
• 1:57:31
  Speaker 6: And in every hall there was a large number of
• 1:57:34
  Speaker 6: gold and silver vessels. But Civil was most surprised when
• 1:57:39
  Speaker 6: the merman brought him to a marble room full of
• 1:57:42
  Speaker 6: heaps of precious stones. There were diamonds there whose value
• 1:57:46
  Speaker 6: the fishermen knew, not pearls larger than ever. A diver
• 1:57:51
  Speaker 6: had gathered emeralds and rubies that would have made the
• 1:57:54
  Speaker 6: jewelers of the world wonder The merman then said.
• 1:58:00
  Speaker 12: My eldest daughter's dowrie.
• 1:58:02
  Speaker 6: Good lock attender says Civil, it is the dowry of
• 1:58:06
  Speaker 6: a queen. But the Merman led him on to another room.
• 1:58:10
  Speaker 6: It was filled with heaps of gold coin, which seemed
• 1:58:14
  Speaker 6: gathered from all times and nations. The images of all
• 1:58:18
  Speaker 6: the kings that ever reigned were there. The Merman said, this.
• 1:58:22
  Speaker 12: Is my second daughter's dowrie.
• 1:58:25
  Speaker 6: Good lock attender, says Civil, It is a dowry for
• 1:58:29
  Speaker 6: a princess. So you may say, replied the Mermaan, But
• 1:58:34
  Speaker 6: make up.
• 1:58:34
  Speaker 12: Your mind which of the maidens you will marry. For
• 1:58:38
  Speaker 12: the third has no portion at all, because she is
• 1:58:42
  Speaker 12: not my daughter, but only as you may see, a poor,
• 1:58:47
  Speaker 12: shilly girl taking into my family for chera e cruely, my.
• 1:58:52
  Speaker 6: Lord, says Sivil, whose mind was already made up. Both
• 1:58:57
  Speaker 6: your daughters are too rich and far too noble for me.
• 1:59:01
  Speaker 6: Therefore I choose the third, since she is poor, she
• 1:59:05
  Speaker 6: will best do for a poor fisherman.
• 1:59:08
  Speaker 12: If you choose.
• 1:59:09
  Speaker 6: Erh said the Mermaian, you must.
• 1:59:11
  Speaker 12: Wait long for a waiting, or he cannot allow a
• 1:59:15
  Speaker 12: girl of lower estate to be married before my own daughters.
• 1:59:19
  Speaker 6: And he set a great deal more to persuade him.
• 1:59:22
  Speaker 6: But Sybil would not change his mind, and they returned
• 1:59:26
  Speaker 6: to the hall. There was no more attention for the fisherman,
• 1:59:30
  Speaker 6: but everybody watched him well turn where he would master.
• 1:59:35
  Speaker 6: Our guests had their eyes upon him, though he made
• 1:59:38
  Speaker 6: them the best speeches he could remember, and praised all
• 1:59:41
  Speaker 6: their splendid things. One thing, however, was strange. There was
• 1:59:46
  Speaker 6: no end to the fun and feasting. Nobody seemed tired,
• 1:59:50
  Speaker 6: and nobody thought asleep when Syvil's very eyes closed with
• 1:59:54
  Speaker 6: weariness and he slept on one of the marble benches.
• 1:59:57
  Speaker 6: No matter how many hours there were the company feasting
• 2:00:01
  Speaker 6: and dancing away, there were the thousand lamps within and
• 2:00:05
  Speaker 6: the cold moonlight. Without Sybil wished himself back with his mother,
• 2:00:10
  Speaker 6: his net, and his cobbled skiff. Fishing would have been
• 2:00:14
  Speaker 6: easier than those everlasting feasts. But there was nothing else
• 2:00:19
  Speaker 6: among the sea people, no night of rest, no working day.
• 2:00:24
  Speaker 6: Sivil knew not how time went on till waking up
• 2:00:28
  Speaker 6: from a long sleep, he saw for the first time
• 2:00:31
  Speaker 6: that the feast was over and the company gone. The
• 2:00:34
  Speaker 6: lamps still burned, and the tables with all their riches
• 2:00:38
  Speaker 6: stood in the empty halls. But there was no face
• 2:00:41
  Speaker 6: to be seen, no sound to be heard, only a
• 2:00:45
  Speaker 6: low voice singing beside the outer door, and there, sitting
• 2:00:49
  Speaker 6: all alone, he found the mild eyed maiden. Fair lady,
• 2:00:54
  Speaker 6: says sivil, tell me what means this quietness? And where
• 2:00:58
  Speaker 6: are all the merry company. You are a man of
• 2:01:01
  Speaker 6: the land, said the lady, And know.
• 2:01:03
  Speaker 14: Not the sea people They never sleep but once a year,
• 2:01:06
  Speaker 14: and that is at Christmas time. Then they go into
• 2:01:10
  Speaker 14: the deep caverns, where there is always darkness, and sleep
• 2:01:14
  Speaker 14: till the new year comes.
• 2:01:15
  Speaker 6: It is a strange habit, said Sylvil. But all folks
• 2:01:19
  Speaker 6: have their way, fair lady, as you and I are
• 2:01:22
  Speaker 6: to be good friends. Tell me whence come all the
• 2:01:26
  Speaker 6: wines and meats, and gold and silver vessels. Seeing there
• 2:01:30
  Speaker 6: are neither corn fields, nor flocks here, nor any workmen.
• 2:01:34
  Speaker 14: The sea people are heirs.
• 2:01:35
  Speaker 6: Of the sea, replied the maiden.
• 2:01:37
  Speaker 14: To them, come all the stores and riches that are
• 2:01:40
  Speaker 14: lost in it. I know not the ways by which
• 2:01:43
  Speaker 14: they come, but the lord of these halls keeps the
• 2:01:46
  Speaker 14: keys of seven gates where they go out and in.
• 2:01:50
  Speaker 14: But one of the gates, which has not been opened
• 2:01:53
  Speaker 14: for thrice seven years, leads to a path under the sea,
• 2:01:57
  Speaker 14: by which I heard the mermaids say in his cup
• 2:02:00
  Speaker 14: one might reach the land. Good fishermen, she went on,
• 2:02:04
  Speaker 14: If by chance you gain his favor and ever open
• 2:02:07
  Speaker 14: that gate, let me bear you company. For I was
• 2:02:10
  Speaker 14: born where the sun shines and the grass grows. Though
• 2:02:14
  Speaker 14: my country and my parents are unknown to me, all
• 2:02:17
  Speaker 14: I remember is sailing in a great ship when a
• 2:02:20
  Speaker 14: storm arose and it was wrecked, and not one soul
• 2:02:24
  Speaker 14: escaped drowning but me. I was then a little child,
• 2:02:28
  Speaker 14: and a brave sailor had bound me to a floating
• 2:02:30
  Speaker 14: plank before he was washed away. Here the sea people
• 2:02:34
  Speaker 14: came round me like great fishes, and I went down
• 2:02:37
  Speaker 14: with them to this rich and wary country. Sometimes as
• 2:02:41
  Speaker 14: a great favor they take me up with them to
• 2:02:43
  Speaker 14: see the sun, but that is seldom, for they never
• 2:02:47
  Speaker 14: like to part with one who has seen their country.
• 2:02:50
  Speaker 14: And fishermen, if you ever leave them, remember to take
• 2:02:53
  Speaker 14: nothing with you that belongs to them, for if it
• 2:02:56
  Speaker 14: were but a shell or a pebble, that will give
• 2:02:59
  Speaker 14: them over you and yours.
• 2:03:02
  Speaker 6: Thanks for your news, fair lady, said civil a lord's daughter.
• 2:03:06
  Speaker 6: Doubtless you must have been well. I am but a
• 2:03:09
  Speaker 6: poor fisherman. Yet, as we have fallen into the same misfortune.
• 2:03:14
  Speaker 6: Let us be friends, and it may be we shall
• 2:03:16
  Speaker 6: find means to get back to the sunshine together. You
• 2:03:20
  Speaker 6: are a man of good manners, said the lady.
• 2:03:22
  Speaker 14: Therefore I shall gladly be your friend. But my fear
• 2:03:25
  Speaker 14: is that we shall never see the sunshine again.
• 2:03:28
  Speaker 6: Fair speeches brought me here, said Civil, and fair speeches
• 2:03:32
  Speaker 6: may help me back. But to be sure, I will
• 2:03:35
  Speaker 6: not go without you. This promise cheered the lady's heart,
• 2:03:39
  Speaker 6: and she and Civil spent that Christmas time seeing the
• 2:03:43
  Speaker 6: wonders of the sea country. They wandered through caves like
• 2:03:47
  Speaker 6: that of the great Mermaan. The feast that had been
• 2:03:50
  Speaker 6: left was spread in every hall. The tables were covered
• 2:03:53
  Speaker 6: with the most costly vessels, and heaps of jewels lay
• 2:03:57
  Speaker 6: on the floor of unlocked rooms. But for the ladies warning,
• 2:04:01
  Speaker 6: Sivil would have liked to put away some of them
• 2:04:03
  Speaker 6: for his mother. The poor woman was sad of heart
• 2:04:06
  Speaker 6: by this time, believing her son to be drowned. On
• 2:04:10
  Speaker 6: the first night, when he did not come home, she
• 2:04:13
  Speaker 6: had gone to the sea and watched till morning. Then
• 2:04:16
  Speaker 6: the fisherman steered out again, and Sour, having found the
• 2:04:19
  Speaker 6: skiff floating about, brought it home, saying the foolish young
• 2:04:23
  Speaker 6: man was no doubt lost, but what better could be
• 2:04:26
  Speaker 6: expected when he had no discreet person to take care
• 2:04:29
  Speaker 6: of him. This vexed Dame Civil sore she never expected
• 2:04:34
  Speaker 6: to see her son again, But feeling lonely in her
• 2:04:37
  Speaker 6: cottage at the evening hour when he used to come home,
• 2:04:40
  Speaker 6: the good woman got into the habit of going down
• 2:04:43
  Speaker 6: at sunset and sitting beside the sea. That winter happened
• 2:04:48
  Speaker 6: to be mild on the coast of the West Country,
• 2:04:50
  Speaker 6: and one evening, when the Christmas time was near and
• 2:04:53
  Speaker 6: the rest of the village preparing to make merry, Dame
• 2:04:56
  Speaker 6: Civil sat as usual on the sands. The tide was
• 2:05:00
  Speaker 6: ebbying in the sun going down, when from the eastward
• 2:05:04
  Speaker 6: came a lady clad in black, mounted on a black
• 2:05:07
  Speaker 6: horse and followed by a squire in the same sad clothing.
• 2:05:12
  Speaker 6: As the lady came near, she said, woe.
• 2:05:15
  Speaker 16: Is me for my daughter and for all that I
• 2:05:18
  Speaker 16: have lost by the sea.
• 2:05:20
  Speaker 3: You say, well, noble lady, said Dame Syvil, woe is
• 2:05:23
  Speaker 3: me also for my son, for I have none beside him.
• 2:05:28
  Speaker 6: When the lady heard that, she alighted from her horse
• 2:05:31
  Speaker 6: and sat down by the fisherman's mother, saying, listen to
• 2:05:35
  Speaker 6: my story.
• 2:05:36
  Speaker 16: I was the widow of a great lord in the
• 2:05:38
  Speaker 16: heart of the east country. He left me a fair
• 2:05:41
  Speaker 16: castle and an only daughter, who was the joy of
• 2:05:44
  Speaker 16: my heart. Her name was faith Feanless. But while she
• 2:05:49
  Speaker 16: was yet a child, a great fortune teller told me
• 2:05:51
  Speaker 16: that my daughter would marry a fisherman. I thought this
• 2:05:54
  Speaker 16: would be a great disgrace to my noble family, and
• 2:05:57
  Speaker 16: therefore sent my daughter with her nurse in a good ship,
• 2:06:00
  Speaker 16: bound for a far away city where my relations live,
• 2:06:04
  Speaker 16: intending to follow myself as soon as I could get
• 2:06:06
  Speaker 16: my lands and castles sold. But the ship was wrecked,
• 2:06:10
  Speaker 16: the lady went on, and my daughter drowned. And I
• 2:06:14
  Speaker 16: have wandered over the world with my good squire Trusty,
• 2:06:17
  Speaker 16: mourning on every shore with those who have lost friends
• 2:06:20
  Speaker 16: by the sea. Some with whom I have mourned grew
• 2:06:24
  Speaker 16: to forget their sorrow and would lament with me no more. Others,
• 2:06:28
  Speaker 16: being sour and selfish, mocked me, saying my grief was
• 2:06:32
  Speaker 16: nothing to them. But you have good manners, and I
• 2:06:35
  Speaker 16: will remain with you. However, humble be your dwelling. My
• 2:06:39
  Speaker 16: squire carries gold enough to pay for all I need.
• 2:06:42
  Speaker 6: So the mourning lady, in her good squire trusty, went
• 2:06:46
  Speaker 6: home with Dame Syvil, and she was no longer lonely
• 2:06:50
  Speaker 6: in her sorrow. For when the Dame said.
• 2:06:52
  Speaker 3: Oh, if my son were alive, I should never let
• 2:06:56
  Speaker 3: him go to sea in a cobbled skiff.
• 2:06:58
  Speaker 6: The lady answered, oh, if.
• 2:07:00
  Speaker 16: My daughter were but living, I should never think it
• 2:07:03
  Speaker 16: a disgrace.
• 2:07:03
  Speaker 6: Though she married a fisherman, the Christmas passed as it
• 2:07:07
  Speaker 6: always does in the West Country. Shepherds made merry on
• 2:07:11
  Speaker 6: the downs and fishermen on the shore. But when the
• 2:07:14
  Speaker 6: merrymakings and ringing of bells were over in all the land,
• 2:07:18
  Speaker 6: the sea people woke up to their feasts and dances
• 2:07:22
  Speaker 6: like one who had forgotten all that was past. The
• 2:07:25
  Speaker 6: merman again showed Civil the room of gold and the
• 2:07:28
  Speaker 6: room of jewels, advising him to choose between his two daughters.
• 2:07:33
  Speaker 6: But the fishermen still answered that the ladies were too
• 2:07:37
  Speaker 6: noble and far too rich for him. Yet as he
• 2:07:41
  Speaker 6: looked at the glittering heap, Civil could not help remembering
• 2:07:44
  Speaker 6: the poor people of the West Country, and the thoughts
• 2:07:47
  Speaker 6: slipped out, how happy my old neighbors would be to
• 2:07:50
  Speaker 6: find themselves here. So you, so said the merman, who
• 2:07:55
  Speaker 6: always wanted visitors. Yes, said Sivil, I have neighbors up
• 2:08:00
  Speaker 6: yonder in the West Country, whom it would be hard
• 2:08:03
  Speaker 6: to send home again if they caught sight of half
• 2:08:06
  Speaker 6: this wealth. And the honest fisherman thought of Dame Sower
• 2:08:10
  Speaker 6: and her son. The Mermaid was greatly pleased with these speeches.
• 2:08:15
  Speaker 6: He thought there was a chance of getting many land
• 2:08:17
  Speaker 6: people down, and by and by, he said to Sybil.
• 2:08:20
  Speaker 12: Suppose you took up a few jewels and went up
• 2:08:24
  Speaker 12: to tell your poor neighbors are welcome, we might make them.
• 2:08:29
  Speaker 6: The hope of getting back to his country made Sivil's
• 2:08:32
  Speaker 6: heart glad. But he had promised not to go without
• 2:08:35
  Speaker 6: the lady, and therefore answered prudently, what was indeed true?
• 2:08:40
  Speaker 6: Many thanks, my lord, he said, for choosing such a
• 2:08:43
  Speaker 6: humble man as I am, to carry your message. But
• 2:08:47
  Speaker 6: the people of the West Country never believe anything without
• 2:08:50
  Speaker 6: two witnesses at the least. Yet, if the poor maid
• 2:08:53
  Speaker 6: whom I have chosen could be allowed to go with me,
• 2:08:57
  Speaker 6: I think they would believe us both. Mrmaan said nothing
• 2:09:01
  Speaker 6: in reply, but his people, who had heard civil speech
• 2:09:05
  Speaker 6: talked it over among themselves till they grew sure that
• 2:09:08
  Speaker 6: the whole west country would come down if they only
• 2:09:12
  Speaker 6: had news of the riches, and asked their lord to
• 2:09:15
  Speaker 6: send up Civil and the poor maid in order to
• 2:09:18
  Speaker 6: let them know, as it seemed for the public good.
• 2:09:21
  Speaker 6: The Great Murmaan agreed, but having made up his mind
• 2:09:25
  Speaker 6: to have them back, he gathered out of his rich
• 2:09:28
  Speaker 6: rooms some of the largest pearls and diamonds, and said.
• 2:09:31
  Speaker 12: Take these as a present from me, to let the
• 2:09:35
  Speaker 12: wist country people see what OI can do for my visitors.
• 2:09:40
  Speaker 6: Sivil and the Lady took the presence, saying, my Lord,
• 2:09:43
  Speaker 6: you are too kind.
• 2:09:45
  Speaker 14: We want nothing but the pleasure of telling of your
• 2:09:47
  Speaker 14: wonderful riches up yonder.
• 2:09:50
  Speaker 12: Tell everybody to come down and they will get.
• 2:09:53
  Speaker 6: The lord, said the Mermaan.
• 2:09:55
  Speaker 12: And follow my eldest daughter, for she carries the key
• 2:09:59
  Speaker 12: of the laying Civil and.
• 2:10:01
  Speaker 6: The Lady followed the Merman through a winding gallery which
• 2:10:05
  Speaker 6: led from the chief hall far into the marble hill.
• 2:10:09
  Speaker 6: All was dark and they had neither lamp nor torch.
• 2:10:12
  Speaker 6: But at the end of the gallery they came to
• 2:10:14
  Speaker 6: a great stone gate which creaked like thunder. On its hinges.
• 2:10:19
  Speaker 6: Beyond that there was a narrow cave sloping up and
• 2:10:23
  Speaker 6: up like a steep hillside. Civil and the lady thought
• 2:10:27
  Speaker 6: they would never reach the top. But at last they
• 2:10:30
  Speaker 6: saw a gleam of daylight, then a strip of blue sky,
• 2:10:34
  Speaker 6: and the mermaid bade them stoop and creep through what
• 2:10:37
  Speaker 6: seemed a narrow crack in the ground, and both stood
• 2:10:41
  Speaker 6: on the broad sea beach as the day was breaking
• 2:10:44
  Speaker 6: and the tide ebbing fast away.
• 2:10:47
  Speaker 10: Good times to you among our west.
• 2:10:49
  Speaker 6: Country people, said the mermaid.
• 2:10:52
  Speaker 19: Tell any of them that would like to come down
• 2:10:54
  Speaker 19: to visit us, that they must come here midway between
• 2:10:57
  Speaker 19: the high and low water mark, when the tide is
• 2:10:59
  Speaker 19: going out at morning or evening. Call thrice on the
• 2:11:03
  Speaker 19: sea people, and we will show them the way.
• 2:11:05
  Speaker 6: Before they could make an answer, she had sunk down
• 2:11:09
  Speaker 6: from their sight, and there was no track or passage there,
• 2:11:12
  Speaker 6: but all was covered by the loose sand and sea
• 2:11:15
  Speaker 6: shells now. Said the lady to Sivil, we have seen.
• 2:11:18
  Speaker 14: The heavens once more, and we will not go back
• 2:11:22
  Speaker 14: cast in. The mermaids present quickly before the sun rises.
• 2:11:26
  Speaker 6: Taking the bag of pearls and diamonds, she flung it
• 2:11:29
  Speaker 6: as far as she could into the sea. Sivil never
• 2:11:33
  Speaker 6: was so unwilling to part with anything as that bag,
• 2:11:36
  Speaker 6: but he thought it better to do as the lady
• 2:11:39
  Speaker 6: had done, and tossed his into the sea. Also they
• 2:11:43
  Speaker 6: thought they heard a long moan come up from the waters,
• 2:11:47
  Speaker 6: but Sybil saw his mother's chimney beginning to smoke, and
• 2:11:51
  Speaker 6: with the fair lady in her sea green gown, he
• 2:11:54
  Speaker 6: hastened to the Good Dame's cottage. The whole village was
• 2:11:58
  Speaker 6: awakened that morning with cries.
• 2:11:59
  Speaker 3: Of welcome back my son, welcome back my daughter.
• 2:12:03
  Speaker 6: For the mournful lady knew it was her lost daughter,
• 2:12:06
  Speaker 6: Faith femeless, whom the fishermen had brought back, and all
• 2:12:10
  Speaker 6: the neighbors gathered together to hear their story. When it
• 2:12:13
  Speaker 6: was told, everyone praised Civil for the prudence he had shown,
• 2:12:18
  Speaker 6: except Sour and his mother. They did nothing but rail
• 2:12:22
  Speaker 6: upon him for losing such great chances of making himself
• 2:12:26
  Speaker 6: and the whole country rich. At last, when they heard
• 2:12:30
  Speaker 6: over and over again of the merman's riches, neither mother
• 2:12:34
  Speaker 6: nor son would stay any longer in the West Country,
• 2:12:38
  Speaker 6: and as nobody persuaded them, and they would not do
• 2:12:41
  Speaker 6: what civil told them. Sour got out his boat and
• 2:12:45
  Speaker 6: steered away with his mother toward the Merman's Rock. From
• 2:12:48
  Speaker 6: that voyage they never came back to the hamlet. Some
• 2:12:52
  Speaker 6: say they went down and lived among the sea people.
• 2:12:55
  Speaker 6: Others say, I know not how they learned it that
• 2:12:58
  Speaker 6: Sour and his mother grumbled and growled so much that
• 2:13:02
  Speaker 6: even the sea people grew weary of them and turned
• 2:13:06
  Speaker 6: them and their boat out on the open sea. What
• 2:13:09
  Speaker 6: part of the world they chose to land on, nobody
• 2:13:12
  Speaker 6: sure of. By all accounts, they have been seen everywhere,
• 2:13:16
  Speaker 6: and I should not be surprised if they were in
• 2:13:19
  Speaker 6: this good company. As for a civil he married faith
• 2:13:23
  Speaker 6: Feianless and became a great lord.
• 2:13:27
  Speaker 1: End of chapter five. Granny's Wonderful Chair by Francis Brown.
• 2:13:38
  Speaker 1: This is a LibriVox recording. All LibriVox recordings are in
• 2:13:41
  Speaker 1: the public domain. For more information or to volunteer, please
• 2:13:45
  Speaker 1: visit LibriVox dot org. Readers for chapter six Narrator read
• 2:13:53
  Speaker 1: by Lennat Geisel.
• 2:13:55
  Speaker 14: Princess Greedeland read by Amy graymoreal.
• 2:14:00
  Speaker 3: Read by Joyce Couch.
• 2:14:03
  Speaker 6: Storytelling Chair read by Phil Schennebert Villager.
• 2:14:07
  Speaker 4: Read by Rashada Villager read by Glenn Prevetera.
• 2:14:13
  Speaker 11: Villager read by Steve elkil.
• 2:14:16
  Speaker 6: Villager read by David Lawrence.
• 2:14:19
  Speaker 16: Villager read by Klinda Villager, read by Beth Thomas Villager
• 2:14:25
  Speaker 16: read by Joyce Couch.
• 2:14:27
  Speaker 12: Villagier read by Algi.
• 2:14:29
  Speaker 8: Pag Villager read by Matthew Reese.
• 2:14:34
  Speaker 7: Villager read by ken Felt.
• 2:14:38
  Speaker 1: Chapter six, Prince Wisewit's return. King Winwelth was so pleased
• 2:14:45
  Speaker 1: with the stories told by the wonderful Chair that he
• 2:14:48
  Speaker 1: gave Snowflower many presents, among which was a golden girdle
• 2:14:52
  Speaker 1: and the promise that she should no longer go into
• 2:14:56
  Speaker 1: low company, but feast with him and his no in
• 2:15:00
  Speaker 1: the chief hall and sleep in one of the best
• 2:15:03
  Speaker 1: rooms of the palace. Snowflower was delighted at the promise
• 2:15:07
  Speaker 1: of feasting with those noble lords and ladies whose wonderful
• 2:15:11
  Speaker 1: stories she had heard from the chair. She bowed very
• 2:15:15
  Speaker 1: low and thanked King Winwelth from the bottom of her heart.
• 2:15:19
  Speaker 1: All the company were glad to make room for her,
• 2:15:22
  Speaker 1: and when her golden girdle was put on, little Snowflower
• 2:15:26
  Speaker 1: looked as fine as the best of them. Mamma whispered
• 2:15:30
  Speaker 1: the Princess Gredolund while she looked ready to cry for spite.
• 2:15:35
  Speaker 14: Only see that little little girl who came here in
• 2:15:37
  Speaker 14: a coarse frock and barefooted. What finery and favor she
• 2:15:41
  Speaker 14: has gained by her story telling chair? Oh, the court
• 2:15:44
  Speaker 14: are praising her and overlooking me. Though the feast was
• 2:15:48
  Speaker 14: made in honor of my birthday. Mamma, I must have
• 2:15:52
  Speaker 14: that chair from her. What business has a common little
• 2:15:55
  Speaker 14: girl with anything so amusing?
• 2:15:58
  Speaker 1: So you shall, my daughter, said Queen Wantall, For by
• 2:16:02
  Speaker 1: this time she saw that King Winwell had, according to custom,
• 2:16:06
  Speaker 1: fallen asleep on his throne. So calling two of her pages,
• 2:16:11
  Speaker 1: screw and hard Hands, she ordered them to bring the
• 2:16:15
  Speaker 1: chair from the other end of the hall where Snowflowers sat,
• 2:16:19
  Speaker 1: and at once made it a present to Princess Gridaland
• 2:16:24
  Speaker 1: nobody in that court ever thought of disputing Queen Wantall's commands,
• 2:16:28
  Speaker 1: and poor Snowflower sat down in a corner to cry,
• 2:16:32
  Speaker 1: while Princess gridaland putting on what she thought a very
• 2:16:36
  Speaker 1: grand air, laid down her head on the cushion, saying.
• 2:16:41
  Speaker 14: Chair of my grandmother, tell me a story.
• 2:16:45
  Speaker 6: Where did you get a grandmother?
• 2:16:48
  Speaker 1: Cried the clear voice from under the cushion, and up
• 2:16:51
  Speaker 1: went the chair with such force as to throw Princess
• 2:16:55
  Speaker 1: gridaland off on the floor, where she lay screaming a
• 2:16:59
  Speaker 1: good deal more angry than hurt. All those at court
• 2:17:03
  Speaker 1: tried in vain to comfort her, But Queen Wantall, whose
• 2:17:07
  Speaker 1: temper was still worse, vowed that she would punish the
• 2:17:11
  Speaker 1: impudent thing, and sent for Sturdy, her chief woodman, to
• 2:17:16
  Speaker 1: chop it up with his axe. At the first stroke,
• 2:17:20
  Speaker 1: the cushion was cut open, and to the surprise of everybody,
• 2:17:24
  Speaker 1: a bird, whose snow white flowers were tipped with purple,
• 2:17:29
  Speaker 1: darted out and flew away through an open window.
• 2:17:33
  Speaker 3: Catch it, catch it, catch it, catch it.
• 2:17:35
  Speaker 1: Cried the Queen and the princess, and all but King Winwell,
• 2:17:39
  Speaker 1: who still slept on his throne, rushed out after the bird.
• 2:17:43
  Speaker 1: It flew over the palace garden and on to a
• 2:17:46
  Speaker 1: wild common where houses had been before. Queen Wantall put
• 2:17:51
  Speaker 1: them down to search for a gold mine, which her
• 2:17:53
  Speaker 1: majesty never found, though three deep pits were dug to
• 2:17:58
  Speaker 1: come at it to make the place looked smart. At
• 2:18:01
  Speaker 1: the feast time. These pits had been covered over with
• 2:18:05
  Speaker 1: loose branches and turf. All the rest of the company
• 2:18:08
  Speaker 1: remembered this, but Queen Wantall and Princess Greedoland, they were
• 2:18:13
  Speaker 1: nearest to the bird, and poor Snowflower, by running hard,
• 2:18:17
  Speaker 1: came close behind them. But fair fortune, one of the
• 2:18:21
  Speaker 1: King's pages, drew her back by the purple mantle. When
• 2:18:26
  Speaker 1: coming to the covered pit, branches and turf gave way,
• 2:18:30
  Speaker 1: and down went the Queen and the princess. Everybody looked
• 2:18:34
  Speaker 1: for the bird, but it was nowhere to be seen.
• 2:18:37
  Speaker 1: But on the common, where the people saw it a light,
• 2:18:41
  Speaker 1: there stood a fair and royal prince, clad in a
• 2:18:45
  Speaker 1: robe of purple and a crown of changing colors, for
• 2:18:49
  Speaker 1: sometimes it seemed of gold and sometimes of forest leaves.
• 2:18:54
  Speaker 1: Most of the people stood, not knowing what to think.
• 2:18:57
  Speaker 1: But all the fairy people, and all the lords and
• 2:19:01
  Speaker 1: ladies of the Chair's stories knew him and cried. King
• 2:19:09
  Speaker 1: Winwell heard that sound where he slept, and came out
• 2:19:13
  Speaker 1: glad of heart to welcome back his brother. When her
• 2:19:17
  Speaker 1: own pages came out with ropes and lanterns to search
• 2:19:20
  Speaker 1: for Queen Wantall and Princess Gridoland, they found them safe
• 2:19:24
  Speaker 1: and well at the bottom of the pit, having fallen
• 2:19:27
  Speaker 1: on a heap of loose sand. The pit was of
• 2:19:31
  Speaker 1: great depth, but some daylight shone down, and whatever were
• 2:19:35
  Speaker 1: the gold grains they saw glittering among the sand, The
• 2:19:39
  Speaker 1: Queen and the princess believed it was full of gold.
• 2:19:43
  Speaker 1: They called the miners false knaves, lazy rogues, and a
• 2:19:47
  Speaker 1: score of bad names beside for leaving so much wealth
• 2:19:51
  Speaker 1: behind them, and utterly refused to come out of the pit,
• 2:19:54
  Speaker 1: saying that since Prince Wisewit was come, they could find
• 2:19:59
  Speaker 1: no pleasure in the palace, but would stay there and
• 2:20:02
  Speaker 1: dig for gold and buy the world with it for themselves.
• 2:20:06
  Speaker 1: King Winwell thought the plan was a good one for
• 2:20:09
  Speaker 1: keeping peace in his palace. He commanded shovels and picks
• 2:20:13
  Speaker 1: to be lowered to the Queen and princess. The two pages,
• 2:20:17
  Speaker 1: screw and hard hands went down to help them in
• 2:20:20
  Speaker 1: hopes of having the province, and there they stayed digging
• 2:20:24
  Speaker 1: for gold. Some of the people about the court said
• 2:20:28
  Speaker 1: they would find it, others believed they never could, and
• 2:20:32
  Speaker 1: the gold was not found when the story was written.
• 2:20:36
  Speaker 1: As for Prince Wisewit, he went home with the rest
• 2:20:40
  Speaker 1: of the company, leading Snowflower by the hand and telling
• 2:20:44
  Speaker 1: them all how he had been turned into a Bird
• 2:20:47
  Speaker 1: by the cunning fairy Fortunetta, who found him off his
• 2:20:50
  Speaker 1: guard in the forest, How she had shut him up
• 2:20:53
  Speaker 1: under the cushion of that curious chair and given it
• 2:20:56
  Speaker 1: to old Dame Frosty Face, And how all his comfort
• 2:21:00
  Speaker 1: had been in little Snowflower, to whom he told so
• 2:21:04
  Speaker 1: many stories. King Winwealth was so rejoiced to find his
• 2:21:08
  Speaker 1: brother again that he commanded another feast to be held
• 2:21:11
  Speaker 1: for many days. All that time, the gates of the
• 2:21:15
  Speaker 1: palace stood open, All comers were welcome, all complaints heard.
• 2:21:21
  Speaker 1: The houses and lands which Queen Wantall had taken away
• 2:21:25
  Speaker 1: were given back to their rightful owners. Everybody got what
• 2:21:29
  Speaker 1: they wanted most. There was no more noises of strife
• 2:21:33
  Speaker 1: without nor discontents within the palace. And on the last
• 2:21:37
  Speaker 1: day of the feast, who should arrive but Dame Frosty Face,
• 2:21:42
  Speaker 1: in her gray hood and cloak Snowflower, was right glad
• 2:21:46
  Speaker 1: to see her grandmother. So were the King and Prince,
• 2:21:49
  Speaker 1: for they had known the Dame in their youth. They
• 2:21:52
  Speaker 1: kept the feast for a few days more, and when
• 2:21:54
  Speaker 1: it was ended everything was right in the kingdom. King
• 2:21:58
  Speaker 1: Winwelth and Prince Wisewit reigned once more together, and because
• 2:22:03
  Speaker 1: Snowflower was the best girl in all that country, they
• 2:22:07
  Speaker 1: chose her to be their heiress instead of Princess Gridoland.
• 2:22:12
  Speaker 1: From that day forward she wore white velvet and satin.
• 2:22:17
  Speaker 1: She had seven pages, and lived in the grandest part
• 2:22:20
  Speaker 1: of the palace. Dame Frosty Face, too was made a
• 2:22:24
  Speaker 1: great lady. They put a new velvet cushion on her chair,
• 2:22:28
  Speaker 1: and she set on a gown of gray cloth edged
• 2:22:32
  Speaker 1: with gold, spinning on an ivory wheel in a fine
• 2:22:36
  Speaker 1: painted parlor. Prince Wisewit built a great summer house covered
• 2:22:41
  Speaker 1: with vines and roses, on the spot where her old
• 2:22:44
  Speaker 1: cottage stood. He also made a highway through the forest
• 2:22:48
  Speaker 1: that all good people might come to go there at
• 2:22:51
  Speaker 1: their leisure. And the cunning fairy Fortunetta, finding that her
• 2:22:55
  Speaker 1: reign was over in those parts, set off on a
• 2:22:58
  Speaker 1: journey round the world and did not return in the
• 2:23:01
  Speaker 1: time of this story, Good boys and girls who may
• 2:23:05
  Speaker 1: chance to read it, that time is long ago. Great wars,
• 2:23:10
  Speaker 1: work and learning have passed over the world since then,
• 2:23:15
  Speaker 1: and changed all its fashions. Kings make no seven day
• 2:23:19
  Speaker 1: feasts for all comers. Now, Queens and princesses. However, greedy
• 2:23:25
  Speaker 1: do not mind for gold. Chairs, tell no tales, wells
• 2:23:30
  Speaker 1: work no wonders, and there are no such doings on
• 2:23:34
  Speaker 1: hills and forests. For the fairies dance no more. Some
• 2:23:39
  Speaker 1: say it was the hum of schools. Some think it
• 2:23:43
  Speaker 1: was the dinner factories that frighten them. But nobody has
• 2:23:47
  Speaker 1: seen them for many a year, except it is said
• 2:23:52
  Speaker 1: one Hans Christian Andersen in Denmark, whose tales of the
• 2:23:57
  Speaker 1: fairies are so good that they must have been heard
• 2:24:00
  Speaker 1: from themselves. It is certain that no living man knows
• 2:24:05
  Speaker 1: the later history of King Winwell's country, nor what became
• 2:24:08
  Speaker 1: of the people who lived and visited at his palace.
• 2:24:12
  Speaker 1: Yet there are people who believe that the King still
• 2:24:14
  Speaker 1: falls asleep on his throne and into low spirits in
• 2:24:18
  Speaker 1: the evening, that Queen Wantall and Princess Gridland have found
• 2:24:23
  Speaker 1: the gold and begun to buy that Dame frosty face,
• 2:24:27
  Speaker 1: yet spends they cannot tell where that snowflower may still
• 2:24:32
  Speaker 1: be seen at the new year's time, in her dress
• 2:24:35
  Speaker 1: of white velvet, looking out for the early spring. That
• 2:24:39
  Speaker 1: Prince wisewit has somehow fallen under a stronger spell and
• 2:24:44
  Speaker 1: a thicker cushion that he still tells stories to Snowflower
• 2:24:49
  Speaker 1: and her friends. And when cushion and spell are broken
• 2:24:52
  Speaker 1: by another stroke of Sturdy's hatchet, which they expect will
• 2:24:56
  Speaker 1: happen sometime, the Prince will make all things right out
• 2:25:00
  Speaker 1: again and bring back the fairy times to the world.
• 2:25:06
  Speaker 1: End of Chapter six. End of Grannie's Wonderful Chair,