FAIRY TALES OF HANS CHRISTIAN ANDERSENTHE LAST PEARLby Hans Christian AndersenWE are in a rich, happy house, where the master, the servants, thefriends of the family are full of joy and felicity. For on this daya son and heir has been born, and mother and child are doing well. Thelamp in the bed-chamber had been partly shaded, and the windows werecovered with heavy curtains of some costly silken material. The carpetwas thick and soft, like a covering of moss. Everything invited to...
BEAUTY AND THE BEASTONCE upon a time, in a very far-off country, therelived a merchant who had been so fortunate in all hisundertakings that he was enormously rich. As he had,however, six sons and six daughters, he found that hismoney was not too much to let them all have everythingthey fancied, as they were accustomed to do.But one day a most unexpected misfortune befell them.Their house caught fire and was speedily burnt to theground, with all the splendid furniture, the books, pic-tures, gold, silver, and precious goods it contained; and...
The Man of the Forestby Zane GreyCHAPTER IAt sunset hour the forest was still, lonely, sweet with tangof fir and spruce, blazing in gold and red and green; andthe man who glided on under the great trees seemed to blendwith the colors and, disappearing, to have become a part ofthe wild woodland.Old Baldy, highest of the White Mountains, stood up roundand bare, rimmed bright gold in the last glow of the settingsun. Then, as the fire dropped behind the domed peak, achange, a cold and darkening blight, passed down the blackspear-pointed slopes over all that mountain world....
My Discovery of Englandby Leacock, StephenIntroduction of Mr. Stephen Leacock Given by Sir Owen Seaman on the Occasion of His First Lecture in LondonLADIES AND GENTLEMEN: It is usual on these occasions for the chairman to begin something like this: "The lecturer, I am sure, needs no introduction from me." And indeed, when I have been the lecturer and somebody else has been the chairman, I have more than once suspected myself of being the better man of the two. Of course I hope I should always have the good mannersI am sure Mr. Leacock hasto disguise that suspicion. However, one has to go thr
Frances Waldeaux by Rebecca Harding DavisA REMEMBRANCER OF BRITTANY FOR THE BEST FELLOW-TRAVELLER IN THE WORLDFRANCES WALDEAUX CHAPTER IIn another minute the Kaiser Wilhelm would push off from her pier in Hoboken. The last bell had rung, the last uniformed officer and white-jacketed steward had scurried up the gangway. The pier was massed with people who had come to bid their friends good-by. They were all Germans, and there had been unlimited embracing and kissing and sobs of "Ach! mein lieber Sckatz!" and "Gott bewahre Dick!"Now they stood looking up to the crowded decks, shouting out l
IN THE LAND OF SOULS [21][21] From the Red Indian.Far away, in North America, where the Red Indians dwell, therelived a long time ago a beautiful maiden, who was lovelier thanany other girl in the whole tribe. Many of the young bravessought her in marriage, but she would listen to one onlyahandsome chief, who had taken her fancy some years before. Sothey were to be married, and great rejoicings were made, and thetwo looked forward to a long life of happiness together, when thevery night before the wedding feast a sudden illness seized the...
The Dark Flowerby John Galsworthy"Take the flower from my breast, I pray thee,Take the flower too from out my tresses;And then go hence, for see, the night is fair,The stars rejoice to watch thee on thy way."From "The Bard of the Dimbovitza."THE DARK FLOWERPart ISpringIHe walked along Holywell that afternoon of early June with hisshort gown drooping down his arms, and no cap on his thick darkhair. A youth of middle height, and built as if he had come of twovery different strains, one sturdy, the other wiry and light. Hisface, too, was a curious blend, for, though it was strongly formed,...
Indian Heroes and Great Chieftainsby Charles A. EastmanCONTENTS1. RED CLOUD2. SPOTTED TAIL3. LITTLE CROW4. TAMAHAY5. GALL6. CRAZY HORSE7. SITTING BULL8. RAIN-IN-THE-FACE9. TWO STRIKE10. AMERICAN HORSE11. DULL KNIFE12. ROMAN NOSE13. CHIEF JOSEPH14. LITTLE WOLF15. HOLE-IN-THE-DAYRED CLOUDEVERY age, every race, has its leaders and heroes. There were oversixty distinct tribes of Indians on this continent, each of which...
TWICE-TOLD TALESTHE BIRTHMARKby Nathaniel HawthorneIN THE LATTER PART of the last century, there lived a man ofscience- an eminent proficient in every branch of naturalphilosophy- who, not long before our story opens, had madeexperience of a spiritual affinity, more attractive than anychemical one. He had left his laboratory to the care of anassistant, cleared his fine countenance from the furnace-smoke, washedthe stain of acids from his fingers, and persuaded a beautiful woman...
THE YOUNG MAN WHO WOULD HAVE HIS EYES OPENEDOnce upon a time there lived a youth who was never happy unlesshe was prying into something that other people knew nothingabout. After he had learned to understand the language of birdsand beasts, he discovered accidentally that a great deal tookplace under cover of night which mortal eyes never saw. Fromthat moment he felt he could not rest till these hidden secretswere laid bare to him, and he spent his whole time wandering fromone wizard to another, begging them to open his eyes, but foundnone to help him. At length he reached an old magician
Tea-table Talkby Jerome K. JeromeCHAPTER I"They are very pretty, some of them," said the Woman of the World; "not the sort of letters I should have written myself.""I should like to see a love-letter of yours," interrupted the Minor Poet."It is very kind of you to say so," replied the Woman of the World. "It never occurred to me that you would care for one.""It is what I have always maintained," retorted the Minor Poet; "you have never really understood me.""I believe a volume of assorted love-letters would sell well," said the Girton Girl; "written by the same hand, if you like, but to diffe
Part 8My poor afflicted governess was now as much concerned asI, and a great deal more truly penitent, though she had noprospect of being brought to trial and sentence. Not but thatshe deserved it as much as I, and so she said herself; but shehad not done anything herself for many years, other thanreceiving what I and others stole, and encouraging us to stealit. But she cried, and took on like a distracted body, wringingher hands, and crying out that she was undone, that shebelieved there was a curse from heaven upon her, that sheshould be damned, that she had been the destruction of all he
The Light Princessby George MacDonald1. What! No Children?Once upon a time, so long ago that I have quite forgotten the date,there lived a king and queen who had no children.And the king said to himself, "All the queens of my acquaintancehave children, some three, some seven, and some as many as twelve;and my queen has not one. I feel ill-used." So he made up his mindto be cross with his wife about it. But she bore it all like a goodpatient queen as she was. Then the king grew very cross indeed. Butthe queen pretended to take it all as a joke, and a very good one...
EAST OF THE SUN AND WEST OF THE MOONOnce upon a time there was a poor husbandman whohad many children and little to give them in the wayeither of food or clothing. They were all pretty, but theprettiest of all was the youngest daughter, who was sobeautiful that there were no bounds to her beauty.So onceit was late on a Thursday evening in autumn,and wild weather outside, terribly dark, and raining soheavily and blowing so hard that the walls of the cottageshook againthey were all sitting together by the fireside,each of them busy with something or other, when...
History Of The Britons (Historia Brittonum)by NenniusTranslated by J. A. GilesI. The Prologue.1. Nennius, the lowly minister and servant of the servants ofGod, by the grace of God, disciple of St. Elbotus,* to all thefollowers of truth sendeth health.* Or Elvod, bishop of Bangor, A.D. 755, who first adopted in theCambrian church the new cycle for regulating Easter.Be it known to your charity, that being dull in intellect andrude of speech, I have presumed to deliver these things in theLatin tongue, not trusting to my own learning, which is little...
FAIRY TALES OF HANS CHRISTIAN ANDERSENOUR AUNTby Hans Christian AndersenYou ought to have known our aunt; she was charming! That is tosay, she was not charming at all as the word is usually understood;but she was good and kind, amusing in her way, and was just as any oneought to be whom people are to talk about and to laugh at. She mighthave been put into a play, and wholly and solely on account of thefact that she only lived for the theatre and for what was donethere. She was an honorable matron; but Agent Fabs, whom she used to...