HERMOD AND HADVOR [32][32] From the Icelandic.Once upon a time there were a King and a Queen who had an onlydaughter, called Hadvor, who was fair and beautiful, and being anonly child, was heir to the kingdom. The King and Queen had alsoa foster son, named Hermod, who was just about the same age asHadvor, and was good-looking, as well as clever at most things.Hermod and Hadvor often played together while they were children,and liked each other so much that while they were still youngthey secretly plighted their troth to each other.As time went on the Queen fell sick, and suspecting that it w
At the Back of the North Windby George MacDonaldCHAPTER ITHE HAY-LOFTI HAVE been asked to tell you about the back of the north wind.An old Greek writer mentions a people who lived there,and were so comfortable that they could not bear it any longer,and drowned themselves. My story is not the same as his.I do not think Herodotus had got the right account of the place.I am going to tell you how it fared with a boy who went there.He lived in a low room over a coach-house; and that was not by anymeans at the back of the north wind, as his mother very well knew....
CHAPTER IIIA Caucus-Race and a Long TaleThey were indeed a queer-looking party that assembled on thebankthe birds with draggled feathers, the animals with theirfur clinging close to them, and all dripping wet, cross, anduncomfortable.The first question of course was, how to get dry again: theyhad a consultation about this, and after a few minutes it seemedquite natural to Alice to find herself talking familiarly withthem, as if she had known them all her life. Indeed, she hadquite a long argument with the Lory, who at last turned sulky,...
The Three Partnersby Bret HartePROLOGUE.The sun was going down on the Black Spur Range. The red light ithad kindled there was still eating its way along the serried crest,showing through gaps in the ranks of pines, etching out theinterstices of broken boughs, fading away and then flashing suddenlyout again like sparks in burnt-up paper. Then the night wind sweptdown the whole mountain side, and began its usual struggle with theshadows upclimbing from the valley, only to lose itself in the endand be absorbed in the all-conquering darkness. Yet for some time...
Fraternityby John GalsworthyCHAPTER ITHE SHADOWIn the afternoon of the last day of April, 190-, a billowy sea of little broken clouds crowned the thin air above High Street, Kensington. This soft tumult of vapours, covering nearly all the firmament, was in onslaught round a patch of blue sky, shaped somewhat like a star, which still gleameda single gentian flower amongst innumerable grass. Each of these small clouds seemed fitted with a pair of unseen wings, and, as insects flight on their too constant journeys, they were setting forth all ways round this starry blossom which burned so clea
ScaramoucheA Romance of the French Revolutionby Rafael SabatiniCONTENTSBOOK ITHE ROBEI. THE REPUBLICANII. THE ARISTOCRATIII. THE ELOQUENCE OF M. DE VILMORINIV. THE HERITAGEV. THE LORD OF GAVRILLACVI. THE WINDMILLVII. THE WINDVIII. OMNES OMNIBUSIX. THE AFTERMATHBOOK IITHE BUSKINI. THE TRESPASSERSII. THE SERVICE OF THESPISIII. THE COMIC MUSEIV. EXIT MONSIEUR PARVISSIMUSV. ENTER SCARAMOUCHEVI. CLIMENEVII. THE CONQUEST OF NANTES...
The Rivermanby Stewart Edward WhiteIThe time was the year 1872, and the place a bend in the river abovea long pond terminating in a dam. Beyond this dam, and on a flatlower than it, stood a two-story mill structure. Save for a small,stump-dotted clearing, and the road that led from it, all else wasforest. Here in the bottom-lands, following the course of thestream, the hardwoods grew dense, their uppermost branches justbeginning to spray out in the first green of spring. Farther back,where the higher lands arose from the swamp, could be discerned the...
FAIRY TALES OF HANS CHRISTIAN ANDERSENTHE PUPPET-SHOW MANby Hans Christian AndersenON board a steamer I once met an elderly man, with such a merryface that, if it was really an index of his mind, he must have beenthe happiest fellow in creation; and indeed he considered himselfso, for I heard it from his own mouth. He was a Dane, the owner of atravelling theatre. He had all his company with him in a large box,for he was the proprietor of a puppet-show. His inborn cheerfulness,he said, had been tested by a member of the Polytechnic Institution,...
THE STAR-SPANGLED BANNERTHE STAR-SPANGLEDBANNERby John A. Carpenter1- Page 2-THE STAR-SPANGLED BANNEROn August 18, 1814, Admiral Cockburn, having returned with his fleetfrom the West Indies, sent to Secretary Monroe at Washington, thefollowing threat:SIR: Having been called upon by the Governor-General of theCanadas to aid him in carrying into effect measures of retaliation against...
The Quest of the Golden GirlBy Richard le GallienneA ROMANCETOPRIOR AND LOUISE CHRISTIAN,WITH AFFECTION.CONTENTSBOOK ICHAPTERI. AN OLD HOUSE AND ITS BACHELORII. IN WHICH I DECIDE TO GO ON PILGRIMAGEIII. AN INDICTMENT OF SPRINGIV. IN WHICH I EAT AND DREAMV. CONCERNING THE PERFECT WOMAN, AND THEREFORE CONCERNING ALLFEMININE READERSVI. IN WHICH THE AUTHOR ANTICIPATES DISCONTENT ON THE PART OFHIS READERVII. PRANDIALVIII. STILL PRANDIALIX. THE LEGEND OF HEBES OR THE HEAVENLY HOUSEMAID...
75 ADCICERO106-43 B.C.by Plutarchtranslated by John DrydenCICEROIT is generally said, that Helvia, the mother of Cicero, was bothwell-born and lived a fair life; but of his father nothing is reportedbut in extremes. For whilst some would have him the son of a fuller,and educated in that trade, others carry back the origin of his familyto Tullus Attius, an illustrious king of the Volscians, who waged...
TOADS AND DIAMONDSTHERE was once upon a time a widow who had twodaughters. The eldest was so much like her in the faceand humor that whoever looked upon the daughter sawthe mother. They were both so disagreeable and so proudthat there was no living with them.The youngest, who was the very picture of her fatherfor courtesy and sweetness of temper, was withal one ofthe most beautiful girls ever seen. As people naturallylove their own likeness, this mother even doted on hereldest daughter and at the same time had a horribleaversion for the youngestshe made her eat in the kitchen...
First Across the Continentby Noah BrooksThe Story ofThe Exploring Expedition of Lewisand Clark in 1804-5-6Chapter IA Great Transaction in LandThe people of the young Republic of the United States were greatly astonished, in the summer of 1803, to learn that Napoleon Bonaparte, then First Consul of France, had sold to us the vast tract of land known as the country of Louisiana. The details of this purchase were arranged in Paris (on the part of the United States) by Robert R. Livingston and James Monroe. The French government was represented by Barbe-Marbois, Minister of the Public Treasury.
Samantha at Saratogaby Marietta HolleyDedication:TO THE GREAT ARMY OFSUMMER TRAMPSTHIS BOOK IS DEDICATEDBY THEIR COMRADE AND FELLOW WANDERERTHE AUTHORCONTENTS.CHAPTER I. SAMANTHA AT SARATOGACHAPTER II. ARDELIA TUTT AND HER MOTHERCHAPTER III. THE CHERITY OF THE JONESVILLIANSCHAPTER IV. ARDELIA AND ABRAM GEECHAPTER V. WE ARRIVE AT SARATOGACHAPTER VI. SARATOGA BY DAYLIGHTCHAPTER VII. SEEING THE DIFFERENT SPRINGSCHAPTER VIII. JOSIAH AND SAMANTHA TAKE A LONG WALK...
Pageant of Summerby Richard JefferiesI.GREEN rushes, long and thick, standing up above the edge of theditch, told the hour of the year as distinctly as the shadow on thedial the hour of the day. Green and thick and sappy to the touch,they felt like summer, soft and elastic, as if full of life, mererushes though they were. On the fingers they left a green scent;rushes have a separate scent of green, so, too, have ferns, verydifferent from that of grass or leaves. Rising from brown sheaths,the tall stems enlarged a little in the middle, like classical...