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For the Children's Hour |
by Carolyn Sherwin Bailey |
A choice collection of stories for the preschool child, carefully selected, adapted, and arranged by two veteran kindergarten teachers. Includes nature stories, holiday stories, fairy tales and fables, as well as stories of home life. Emphasis is placed on fanciful tales for their value in the training of the imagination and on cumulative tales for developing a child's sense of humor and appealing to his instinctive love of rhyme and jingle. Ages 4-7 | 464 pages |
$15.95 |
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PETER, PAUL AND ESPEN
Norwegian folk-tale. Retold by Bertha Johnston in "Kindergarten Magazine."
THERE were once three brothers—Peter, Paul and
Espen—who set out from home to find their way through
the woods. Now, Peter and Paul thought they knew all
that needed to be known, and they were sure that they
could do anything that needed to be done. Espen said
but little, and the others thought he was of no
account.
Their way led through a deep wood, where grew splendid
trees and beautiful flowers. Happy birds flitted from
tree to tree, and it was a pleasant place. After a
while the boys heard a strange sound far away to one
side.
"I wonder," said Espen, "I wonder what that sound can
be."
"That, you silly boy," said his brothers; "why, it is
just a woodchopper chopping at a tree. Did you never
hear a woodchopper before?"
"Yes, I have," said Espen, "but I wonder just what it
is that we hear. I am going to find out."
"Nonsense," said Paul and Peter, "come with us, and
don't stop for that."
[311] "No," said Espen; "I am going to find out."
So away he went and there, far off in the woods, he
found an axe chopping away all by itself.
"Good morning, dear axe," said Espen; "what are you
doing there, all by yourself?"
"I have been waiting here hundreds of years for you,"
said the axe.
"Well, here I am," said Espen, and he took the axe and
tucked it into his belt and hurried off to catch up with
his brothers. They had not gone very much farther
through the woods when they heard another strange
sound—tap, tap, tap—far away to one side.
"I wonder," said Espen, "what that sound may be."
"That, you silly boy," said his brothers; "why, that is
just a stonecutter picking at a rock. Did you never
hear a pickaxe before?"
"Oh, yes," said Espen, "but I wonder just what it is
that we hear. I am going to find out."
"Nonsense," said Peter and Paul, "come with us; we
shall never get out of this wood."
No," said Espen; "I am going to find out."
So away he went and there, far off in the wood, he came
to a pickaxe tapping at a rock all by itself.
"Good morning, dear pickaxe," said Espen; "what are you
doing here, all by yourself?"
"I have been waiting here hundreds of years for you,"
said the pickaxe.
"Well, here I am," said Espen, slinging the pickaxe
over his shoulder and hurrying on to catch up with his
brothers.
"Well, what did you find?" they asked of Espen. "Was
it not a pickaxe?"
"Yes, it was a pickaxe," said Espen.
[312] Presently the three boys came to a brook. "I
wonder where this brook came from," said Espen.
"Well, did you never see a brook before?" asked Peter
and Paul.
"Yes," said Espen, "but I wonder where it comes from."
So, in spite of his brothers laughing at him, Espen
followed the brook until it grew narrower and narrower,
and at last he found it trickling from a walnut-shell.
"Well, dear brook, what are you doing here, all by
yourself?" asked Espen.
"I have been waiting here hundreds of years for you,"
said the brook.
So Espen took the walnut-shell and plugged it up with a
bit of moss and put it in his pocket. Then he hurried
on, but Peter and Paul were a long way ahead of him.
They had come to the city. Now, it happened that in
front of the king's palace was a tree that had grown so
large, and made the palace so shady and gloomy, that
the King wished it cut down. But, strange to say,
every time one of its branches was cut off another grew
in its place. So, instead of growing smaller, the tree
ever grew larger, and the King had offered half of his
kingdom to whoever could cut it down.
Many people had tried, and had failed, and at last the
King decreed that whoever tried and failed should be
sent away to a very distant island, never to return.
The palace was on a high hill, and every drop of water
the King needed had to be carried up the hill. The King
said he would give half his kingdom to whoever could
cut down the tree and dig him a well. Many people had
tried to dig the well and cut down the tree,
[313] but
they all had failed and the King had sent them off to
his distant island.
At last came Peter and Paul, the brothers who thought
they knew everything in the world. They were sure they
could cut down the tree and dig the well, but they,
also, failed and they were sent off to the island to
stay always. Then along came Espen, and he, too,
wished to try.
"Oh, see your poor brothers!" cried all the people.
"You must not try."
"I will try," said Espen.
So he took his axe from his belt, and put it at the
foot of the tree and said to it: "Chop away, my axe."
And the axe chopped and chopped away until, in a few
minutes, the tree was down. Then he took the pickaxe,
put it in the hard rock and said: "Dig away, my
pickaxe."
In a little while the pickaxe had dug a great, deep
hole. Then Espen took out his walnut-shell, pulled out
the moss and dropped it far down into the ground. In a
minute the water bubbled up as high as a fountain, and
there was a splendid spring with all the water that was
needed for the palace.
So the foolish Espen, whom no one thought to be of much
account, had done what no other had done; and the King
gave him half of his kingdom.
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