Nature Myths and Stories for Little Children

by Flora J. Cooke

  He was often told that he looked like a great umbrella which a storm hadturned inside out.

  But as years went by every small poplar was taught to grow as fearless,straight and open hearted as himself, and the whole poplar family becamerespected and loved for its uprightness and strength.

  THE DONKEY AND THE SALT.

  One time a merchant went to the seashore for a load of salt.

  There were many hills and streams to cross on the journey.

  As the path was narrow and rocky, the man made his donkey carry the saltin large bags upon his back. It was a warm day, and the donkey did notlike his heavy load.

  He hung down his head and went as slowly as he could.

  After a while they came to a stream which had only a foot bridge overit.

  The donkey went through the water, splash! splash! splash! In the middleof the stream was a large stone which he did not see.

  He stumbled and fell, and the water ran over the bags of salt.

  Soon the donkey was glad that he had fallen, for he found his load muchlighter.

  They came to another stream, but the donkey did not stumble this time.He lay down in the middle of the brook.

  He was a wise donkey.

  This time he lost so much salt that his master was angry, for he wasobliged to go back to the seashore for another load.

  As they were walking along, the merchant laughed to himself.

  He thought he knew a way to cure the donkey of this trick.

  When they came to the seashore, he filled the bags with sponges, andstarted for home.

  The donkey thought, "What a light load I have," and trotted gaily alongover the rough road.

  Again they came to the brook. "Ah!" thought the donkey, "I will make myload still lighter."

  He lay down in the middle of the brook.

  This time he found his load so heavy that he could scarcely rise.

  His master kindly helped him, but the donkey was not happy.

  The water ran down his sides and made him more miserable.

  "Oh," thought he, "I will never lie down in the water again."

  Once more his master led him back to the seashore.

  He filled the bags with salt.

  The donkey was wiser now and carried the salt safely home.

  THE SECRET OF FIRE.

  A TREE STORY.

  One summer night a great army of pine trees settled down in a quietvalley to rest. They were a tall, dark, grave-looking company.

  They held their heads high in the air, for they were the only trees inthe world who knew the wonderful secret of fire.

  High above this valley, on the hillside, lived a little company of oaks.

  They were young, brave, and strong-hearted.

  When they saw the great band of pines marching into the valley, thetallest one said:

  "Let us make them divide the gift of fire with us."

  "No," said the oldest, wisest oak, "we must not risk, foolishly, thelives of our acorns. We could do nothing against so many."

  All the acorns had been listening to what the tree said. Each one longedto help in finding out the great secret.

  One of them became so excited that he fell from the limb, down upon thehard ground. He did not stop at the foot of the tree, but rolled overand over, far down into the valley.

  Here a brook picked him up and hurried him away; but as he stopped torest by a stone, he heard his good friend, the wind, talking to a pinetree.

  "What is the secret of fire which the pine trees know?" asked the wind."Don't you think it is selfish to keep it all to yourselves?"

  The pine tree loved the wind and answered:

  "Great wind, it is, indeed, a wonderful secret; you must never tell it."Then she whispered it to the wind.

  The little acorn went on and on down the stream.

  He came to an old log, which was the home of a large family ofsquirrels. The mother squirrel was very sad. The last flood had broughther and her children far away from her old forest home. Her family hadall been saved, but food was scarce and winter was near.

  The acorn felt very sorry for her and said:

  "I am too small to do you much good alone. If you will carry me back tomy home, I will show you a forest with plenty of nuts. You can take yourfamily there in the fall."

  This the squirrel was very glad to do.

  As they went along the acorn called to all the elms, maples, willowsand hickories to meet that night on the hilltop.

  "Come to the hill across from the great blue mountains," he said. "Thereyou will learn the secret of fire."

  By evening they were all there, in great companies, ready for war on thepines.

  When the squirrel came to the forest and saw all the nuts she was muchpleased.

  She offered to carry the acorn to the very top of the tallest tree. Thetrees were all glad of this, for every one wanted to hear what he said.

  When the acorn began to speak, even the wind stopped whispering andlistened.

  "Friends," he said, "there must be no battle. The pine trees have onlythe same gift of fire that you have. To every tree that stretches outits arms the glorious sun gives this gift. But it was in this way thatthe pine trees learned the secret of getting the fire from the wood:They saw an old Indian chief with two curious pieces of wood. One wasround and smooth, the other was sharp-pointed. With all his strength hewas rubbing them together. Soon he had worn a groove in the round stick.He rubbed faster and faster, and there in the groove was a tiny spark offire. Then the Indian blew his breath upon the spark and a little yellowflame leaped up. All the pine trees saw it. 'See, it is fire!' theysaid."

  When the great company of trees had heard the acorn's story they shooktheir heads in doubt. Then the acorn said:

  "This is the true secret of fire. If you do not believe it why do younot try it for yourselves."

  They took this advice and all the trees learned that what he had saidwas true.

  They were so happy that they spent the whole night in singing anddancing.

  In the morning, when they saw the great blue mountains and the beautifulvalley, many of them settled down upon the hillside for life.

  The pines looked up and saw hundreds of trees with their shining arms.They were so frightened that they climbed high up on the mountain side.There they stayed a long, long time.

  They grew sad and lonely, and often sighed and wished for their old homeand comforts. But they were brave and strong-hearted, and helped eachother.

  At last, some of them came down into the valley again. Through sufferingthey had grown strong and unselfish. They gave their best trees to thepeople and their fairest to the children at Christmas time.

  Indeed, there is not a tree in the world to-day more loved than the pinetree, who first had the secret of fire.

  A FAIRY STORY.

  Some fairies once lived in a dark glen in a pine forest.

  They were real fairies, many of them not higher than a pin.

  Their greatest treasure was a magic cap which had been in the fairyfamily for many generations.

  The most wonderful thing about the cap was that it fitted exactly anyone who wore it.

  When one fairy put it on, he and all the others became invisible.

  A stupid race of giants lived among the mountains near them. They wantedthe fairy cap more than anything else in the world.

  One warm day when the elves were away from home, a giant came into theglen. He was seeking just such a cool place for his afternoon nap.

  He was so large and the glen so small that when he lay down he almostfilled the valley.

  The music of a fairy brook soon lulled him to sleep.

  Perhaps you have heard how a giant snores, and how his breath comes ingreat puffs.

  The giant was snoring and puffing when the fairies came towards home.

  They heard the strange sound and thought a great storm was brewing.

  "There has never been such a wind in the glen," said the fairy queen.


  "We will not go down into it. We must seek shelter for to-night on thishillside."

  Just then they came to the giant's ear.

  "Here is a fine cavern," the queen said, and she stopped and waved herwand.

  A fairy hastened forward to carry the cap to a safe place in the cave,for that was always their first care.

  Just then the giant awoke.

  He raised his great head.

  Oh, how miserable the fairies were!

  They wept and moaned until even the dull ear of the giant heard them.

  It was a sound like the tolling of tiny silver bells.

  He listened and understood what the wee voice of the prisoner in his earwas saying.

  He was the wisest and most kind-hearted of all the giants.

  He helped the little creature gently out into his hand, and looked athim in wonder.

  He had never before seen a fairy.

  In vain the brave little fellow tried to conceal the precious cap.

  The giant saw the wonderful star and knew at once that he had thetreasure cap of the elves.

  He set the fairy carefully upon the ground, and shouted for joy as hefound that the cap exactly fitted his own great head.

  The poor fairies could no longer see him, but they heard a sound likethunder, as he hurried over the stones towards his home.

  They were now afraid to move about while the sun shone.

  They crept under leaves and into shells and cried bitterly.

  By sundown every plant in the glen was wet with their tears.

  The sharp eyes of the eagle on the mountain top saw them and a greatpity filled his heart.

  "I must help the fairies," he said, "otherwise I should not be worthy tobe called the 'king of birds'."

  He went directly to the home of the giants and demanded the cap, butthey refused to give it up.

  All that an eagle could do, he did, but as the giants wore the invisiblecap he could not see them. He could only hear their great voices.

  He knew however that the giants were proud of their great size andstrength, and liked, above all things, to be seen.

  He was sure that they would not wear the cap in battle, and he did notlose hope.

  One day they carefully placed it under a large stone on the mountainside below them.

  The keen eye of the eagle was watching.

  He flew fearlessly to the spot as soon as the giants had left it.

  He lifted the stone in his great talons, and was soon flying away withthe cap to the fairy glen.

  The giants saw him, and knew at once what he was doing.

  They began a fierce attack upon him.

  The air was filled with flying arrows and sharp rocks. Drops of bloodfell on the mountain side, and many feathers fluttered down, but thebrave eagle was soon out of their reach.

  He did not stop until the cap was safe in the fairy queen's lap.

  There was great rejoicing among the fairies that day.

  They had a feast in the eagle's honor, and healed his wounds with fairymagic.

  On the mountain side, wherever the blood and feathers fell, theresprang up trees with featherlike leaves and blood-red berries.

  All the giants, fairies, plants and animals knew why they grew.

  The unselfish love in the eagle's blood could not die, but lived againin the beautiful trees.

  But people who did not know how they came there, called them mountainash trees.

  PHILEMON AND BAUCIS.

  On a high hill in Greece, long ago, lived Philemon and Baucis. They hadalways been poor but never unhappy.

  At the time of this story the people in the valley below them were verybusy.

  Zeus, their king, had sent word that he was about to visit them.

  Hermes, his messenger, was to come with him.

  The people were getting ready great feasts, and making everythingbeautiful for their coming. For miles out of the city, men were watchingfor the golden chariot and white horses of the king.

  One night, just at dark, two beggars came into the valley.

  They stopped at every house and asked for food and a place to sleep.

  But the people were too busy or too tired to attend to their needs.

  Footsore and weary, at last they climbed the hill to the hut of Philemonand Baucis.

  These good people had eaten scarcely anything for several days that theymight have food to offer the king.

  When they saw the strangers, Philemon said, "Surely these men need foodmore than the king."

  Baucis spread her one white table cloth upon the table.

  She brought out bacon and herbs, wild honey and milk.

  She set these before the strangers with all the good dishes that shehad.

  Then a wonderful thing happened.

  The dishes which the strangers touched turned to gold.

  The milk in the pitcher became rich nectar.

  Philemon and Baucis dropped upon their knees.

  They knew that their guests could be no other than Zeus and Hermes.

  Zeus raised his hand and said, "Arise, good people, ask what you willand it shall be yours."

  Philemon and Baucis cried in one voice:

  "Grant, oh Zeus, that one of us may not outlive the other, but that bothmay die in the same instant."

  This had long been the wish in each heart, and the fear of being leftalone in the world was the one trouble of their old age.

  Zeus smiled and changed their rude hut into a beautiful castle, andgranted them many years of happy life.

  One morning the people in the valley noticed that the castle haddisappeared.

  They hurried to the spot and found growing in its place two beautifultrees, an oak and a linden.

  No trace of the good couple could be found.

  Many years after, however, a traveller lying under the trees heard themwhispering to each other.

  He lay very still and soon learned that in them Philemon and Baucisstill lived, happy and contented, and protected by Zeus from all harm.

  DAPHNE.

  Daphne was the daughter of the River Peneus.

  She was a beautiful child and her father loved her more than anythingelse in the world.

  Her home was in a cave which he had cut for her in a great white cliff.

  The walls of the cave were of marble.

  From the roof hung crystal chandeliers which Peneus' servants had made.

  On the floor was a soft green carpet woven by the water fairies.

  Peneus brought his most beautiful pebbles to Daphne's cave every night.

  He sang songs to her in the evenings and told her stories of histravels.

  She visited with him the great island which he was building in the sea.

  When the morning star shone in the sky it was Daphne who awakened thebirds and flowers.

  With her golden hair flying behind her, she sped into the forest.Everything awoke when they felt the touch of her rosy fingers, andsmiled as they saw her happy face.

  The trees and the forest animals were her playfellows, and she had nowish for other friends.

  She learned their ways, and the deer could not run more swiftly thanshe, nor the birds sing more sweetly.

  One day as she was running over the stones near the cave, King Apollosaw her.

  "Ah, little maid," said he, "You are very beautiful. Your feet are tootender for the hard rocky earth.

  "Come, you shall live with me in my palace in the sky."

  But Daphne fled from him.

  She did not want to leave her beautiful earth home.

  Fear gave her wings, and faster and faster she flew.

  Her hair streamed behind her like a cloud of golden light.

  Apollo followed more swiftly than the wind.

  "Stop and listen," he cried; "I am not a foe, foolish girl. It is Apollowho follows you. I shall carry you to a home more beautiful thananything you have ever seen."

  She felt his breath upon her hair, and saw his hand as he stretched itforth to seize
her.

  "Father, save me from Apollo," she cried. "Let the earth enclose me."

  Peneus heard her voice and instantly her feet became fastened in thesoil like roots. A soft bark covered her body and her beautiful hairbecame the leaves of the laurel tree.

  Apollo sadly gathered some of the leaves and wove them into a wreath. Helaid his hand upon the tree and said, "I would have made you happy, butyou would not listen to me.

  "At least you shall be my tree. Your leaves shall be ever green, andheroes shall be crowned with them in sign of victory."

  AN INDIAN STORY OF THE MOLE.

  An Indian once saw a squirrel sunning himself in a tree top.

  The squirrel saw the hunter and leaped upon a passing cloud.

  He had escaped into Cloudland before an arrow could reach him.

  The Indian set a trap for him hoping that he would soon return to thetree for food.

  The sun happened to be coming that way and was caught in the trap.

  Suddenly, in the middle of the day, it became dark.

  The Indian was frightened and said, "Ah me, what have I done, I havesurely caught the sun in my trap."