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Enid Blyton’s

DAFFODIL STORY BOOK

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The Quiet Kite

WHEN the kite came to live in the nursery the other toys couldn't understand it at all.

"It's not a doll," said the red-haired doll."It's not a bear," said the teddy."It's not an engine," said the train."It's a silly sort of toy," said the rocking-horse, looking

into the toy-cupboard, where the kite lay quiet and still. "It has no legs, so it can't run about with us. It can't even roll, like the balls ! "

"It has a tail, but doesn't wag it," said the pink dog, who was very proud of his tail because it wagged to and fro when he was wound up.

Everyone looked at the kite's long tail. It was made of screwed-up bits of paper tied to a long string.

The kite suddenly spoke, in a kind of windy, wheezy voice.

"I daren't move my tail in case it gets tangled up," it said. " It takes such a time to untangle it, you know."

" Oh, the kite can talk ! " cried the red-haired doll " Do come out and play, Kite."

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"No, thank you," said the kite. "As the rocking-horse said, I have no legs, so I can't walk. I prefer to stay here quietly."

And there the kite stayed, and wouldn't move. The toys laughed at it. They pulled its tail. They unwound its string and got it all muddled. The kite was very upset.

"Don't do that," it said. "I may want that string some day."

" Pooh ! What for ? " cried the teddy-bear. "What do kites do ? Nothing, so far as I can see ! Except just lie about in the cupboard and get lazier and lazier."

And the bad bear tangled the string up even more. The kite was very unhappy about it, for it had no arms or legs to undo the knots.

But the little white ostrich out of the Noah's Ark was very kind. She came up to undo the tangle. And very soon the kite and the ostrich made friends.

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Where's the other ostrich?" asked the kite. "I thought there were two of every animal and bird in the ark."

"Well, there were two ostriches," said the little white ostrich,, "but the other one got trodden on and broken. So now there is only me. And I am often lonely because I am by myself. The other animals are in pairs."

"Don't be lonely," said the kite. "Come and talk to me when you feel sad."

So after that the ostrich and the kite often talked together, though everyone else laughed at them.

"What you can see in that silly, quiet kite I really can't imagine ! " said the teddy-bear to the ostrich.

"And what the kite can

see in that stupid little wooden ostrich puzzles me!" said the red-haired doll, tossing her thick curls. Now one day

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the wind got up out-of-doors and roared away into the sky, blowing the clouds along 'and twisting the chimney smoke like ribbon. And into the nursery ran John, to whom all the toys belonged.

"Where's my kite? Where's my kite?" he cried. "It's just the day for a kite ! Kite, kite, where are you?"

He pulled the kite out of the cupboard and shook out its tail. "Come along!" he cried. "It's just the day for a kite like you!”

His sister Winnie came into the nursery too. " Oh, have you found your kite ? " she said. " Good, John. I'll bring all the toys into the garden to watch ! "

So she picked up the toys, little white ostrich and all, and followed her brother into the garden. The toys were most

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surprised. What was all this fuss about the kite? Why was this windy day just the day for it ? They simply couldn't imagine!

Winnie set the toys down on the grass. John began to unwind a little of the string that was tied to the kite. He shook out the lovely long tail.

The wind caught hold of the kite and pulled at it in delight. John threw it up into the air. At once it rose high, and higher still as John let out more and more string. It quivered and shook like a live thing. Its lovely tail swung below it, twisting and shaking. It was marvellous !

" Oh, Winnie ! Doesn't the kite fly beautifully ? " cried John, pleased. "It's the best kite in the world? Oh, look it's pulling so hard at my hand that it feels like a horse wanting to gallop away! "

"Well, hold on tight," said Winnie. "It would be dreadful if you let go and it flew away by itself! Hold on tight! "

All the toys watched in amazement. Could this really be the poor quiet kite they had so often laughed at ? The kite that had no legs and couldn't play with them? The kite whom they had teased and tangled? They couldn't believe it! It was flying higher and higher in the air, sometimes dipping down in great circles, sometimes flapping its tail in glee. It was lovely to watch.

"Would you believe that the quiet old kite could fly like that?" said the red-haired doll.

"I couldn't fly up in the air," said the teddy."It's much, much cleverer than we are," said the train.The little white ostrich was proud of her fine friend. She

watched out of her black eyes and wondered if the kite would bump into the big white clouds that raced along so fast.

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At last the wind dropped and the kite swooped down. It lay on the grass quite quiet. John heard his mother calling and turned to Winnie. " Come on—that's Mother. She has some biscuits for us ! "

The children raced indoors. Soon the wind began to blow again and the kite lifted itself a little from the grass. " Ostrich," it called, " climb on to my tail! I'll give you a fly! You are a nice little bird and you ought to try how lovely it is to fly through the air ! "

" Ostriches don't fly. They only run ! " called the teddy-bear, jealously. He would so very much have loved to climb on to the end of the kite's tail himself.

" This ostrich is going to fly! " said the little white ostrich, and she settled herself on the very end of the kite's tail. There came a great gust of wind and the kite rose up joyously. It flew up into the air, dragging its long tail behind it. And on the end flew the little white ostrich half delighted, half frightened, but enjoying herself thoroughly.

"The kite will fly away and John will be cross," said the teddy. But the kite didn't, because John had been wise enough to tie the end of its string to a post. So when the kite rose very high it had to stay there, because the string was tied fast to the post and the kite couldn't get away.

Soon John and Winnie came out with their biscuits. " Look! " cried John. "My kite is flying itself. Isn't it clever! "

When he pulled down the kite to put it away, John had such a surprise. He called to Winnie.

" Winnie ! Look! Your little white ostrich has been for a fly on the tail of the kite ! Isn't that queer?"

When the kite was put away in the toy-cupboard that night, the toys came up to it. They felt ashamed.

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"Kite, you were marvellous to-day," said the red-haired doll.

"Kite, I'm sorry I tangled your string," said the bear. "I didn't know how important your string was to you."

"It's quite all right," said the kite generously. "I know I'm quiet and dull when I'm lying here doing nothing, but I'm a different fellow, I can tell you, when I'm up in the air! "

" Give the others a ride on your tail next time," said the little white ostrich, who was pleased to find that the toys were being nice to her friend.

"I will!" said the kite. And it'll keep its word, no doubt about that. I'd love to see the red-haired doll swinging on the end of its tail, wouldn't you?

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Too Late to be Sorry !

"LET's take our new ball to school this afternoon," said Jane. L "It's such a beauty I "

"Right," said Peter. "Bags I carry it! You'll only drop it, Jane."

Mother heard what the two were saying. "I don't want you to take the ball to school," she said. If you begin playing with it on the way, it will only bounce into the road, you'll go after it—and be run over I "

"Mother, I'll put it into my pocket—like this—and there it will stay till we get to school! " said Peter.

So Jane and Peter went off with the ball. But half-way to school Peter put his hand into his pocket and took out the ball. "If we bounce it to one another it won't go into the road," he said.

" But you told Mother it would stay in your pocket till we got to school," said Jane, who could always be trusted.

" Oh well—if you don't want to bounce it along the path, I'll play by myself! " said Peter. " Oh look, here's Scamper come after us. Hallo, Scamp ! Go home ! "

Scamper was their dog. He bounded round Peter in delight when he saw the ball in his hand. He did so love a ball!

Peter bounced it and caught it. He bounced it again. Scamper leapt up to catch it, knocked it with his nose, and sent it bouncing into the road. The little dog shot after it at once.

He ran straight into a girl on a bicycle. She screamed and swerved right across the road.

She almost went into a man with an ice-cream cart. He pedalled hard to try to avoid her, but her wheel caught against him and down she went.

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The ice-cream man shot across into a car, which swerved right away and crashed into a barrow wheeled by a man. It was full of fruit that went bouncing all over the road.

The barrow was swung right round and a big lorry, trying to avoid it, swung out and crashed into a bus. The bus was twisted round and knocked down a lamp-post. It fell across a pram with a baby in, and the mother screamed loudly.

Peter and Jane were terrified. Scamper was frightened too, put his tail down and ran home. A big policeman came up with a notebook.

" That bus knocked the lamp-post down on my pram! " wept the mother.

"It wasn't my fault," said the bus-driver. "That lorry crashed into my bus."

"I couldn't help it," said the lorry-driver. "That fellow's barrow swung into me."

" Well, that ice-cream man rode straight at my barrow ! " said the fruit-man, angrily.

" It was that girl on the bicycle that made me do that," said the ice-cream man.

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"I couldn't help what I did," sobbed the little girl, picking up her bicycle. "There was a dog that ran into me. He was after somebody's ball."

Everybody stared round for the dog, but he wasn't there. But the ball still lay in the road, bright and new. The policeman picked it up.

"Whose ball is this?" he asked, in a very stern voice."Ours," said Peter and Jane, and Jane burst into tears."I bounced it," said Peter. "I know I shouldn't play with a

ball in the street—but oh, I didn't think all this would happen! I'm so sorry."

"It's too late to be sorry," said the policeman. "Better be safe than sorry ! Write that out on your blackboard at school, young man, and don't forget it! "

So Peter did, and I read it there myself—BETTER BE SAFE THAN SORRY!

Toy Riddle-me-ree

My first is in tickle but isn't in laugh,My second's in whole, but isn't in half,My third is in penny and sixpence and pound,My whole is a toy that will spin round and round.What am I ?

Answer on page 26.

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ONCE there was a little sugar-mouse. He was made of pink sugar, and he had two eyes, two ears, and a long pink tail. He belonged to Eileen, and she wouldn't eat him.

"He's rather a dear," she said to her mother. "I like the way he looks at me. I shan't eat him, Mummy. He's quite the nicest mouse I've ever seen."

Goodness ! How grand the sugar-mouse felt when he heard that. He sat on the window-seat with the other toys, looking as important as he could. He was the nicest sugar-mouse ever seen, he kept thinking to himself. Fancy that!

The other toys thought he was a funny little mouse. The big doll wanted him for a pet. The golliwog wanted to cuddle him. The teddy-bear wanted to stroke him.

But the sugar-mouse was vain and haughty. He thought himself very grand and important. So he was rude when the other toys were nice to him.

" Leave me alone," he said to the bear, when the bear tried to stroke him. "I'm not a dog! "

"Please don't try to cuddle me," he said to the golliwog, when Golly wanted to pick him up. "I'm not a baby. Go to the dolls' house and get a doll from there if you want something to cuddle."

" I will certainly not be a pet," he said to the big doll, when she wanted to take him on her knee. " I am a grand and most

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important mouse—the nicest mouse Eileen has ever seen, she says ! "

The toys grew tired of the sugar-mouse's high-and-mighty ways. They wouldn't talk to him any more. Then he was cross, because he wanted to talk to them and keep telling them what a wonderful little mouse he was. He wanted them to say so, too.

So when they wouldn't talk to him, he became very naughty and mischievous. He waited till the teddy-bear was rather near the edge of the window-seat, and then he ran at him with his sharp little sugar nose. He pushed the bear—and Teddy slid to the floor below with a bump. He was too fat to climb up again by himself, and he was very cross to hear the sugar-mouse giggling away to himself above.

The sugar-mouse annoyed the big doll too. He waited till she was asleep, with her eyes tight-shut, and then he undid her shoe-laces and all the buttons on her frock. She was really very puzzled.

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" Every time I go to sleep my shoe-laces and buttons are done up properly," she said, "and every time I wake they are all undone. Sugar-mouse, if it is you playing this silly trick, I shall be very cross."

But the worst trick of all the sugar-mouse played on the golliwog. Golly had a shock of black hair all over his head, and he was very proud of it because it was so thick and black. Well, the sugar-mouse saw the tin of flour on the window-sill, where Mummy had put it for a moment. And he climbed up the tin, picked up a whole heap of the white flour in his sugar-paws, and threw it down on the golly's head. And in a trice the golliwog had white hair instead of black. The toys stared at him in horror.

"Golly! You've gone white !" said the doll." Golly! Have you grown old suddenly ?" said the bear.

"Your hair is all white, as if you were an old, old golliwog." The sugar-mouse gave a giggle

and nearly fell into the flour-tin. The toys looked up.

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"Oh! It's that tiresome sugar-mouse again!" cried the golliwog. "Wait till I catch him! I'll bury him in the flour till he can't breathe."

But the sugar-mouse was too quick for him. He hid in the brick-box and wouldn't come out till the toys were good- tempered again.

Then the toys made up their minds that they simply could NOT let the sugar-mouse go anywhere with them. Sometimes they all went for a walk round the nursery at night, and the mouse loved to trot along behind, looking at

everything they passed—the big coal-scuttle, the dancing fire, the dolls' house in the corner, and the enormous rocking-horse.

Sometimes the toys even went into the garden—and that was a very great treat. Often they went out of the nursery door if it had been left open, and walked down the passage to peep into the big kitchen.

And now the sugar-mouse was not allowed to go with them at all. The toys slipped off when he was asleep. He was very angry indeed. He made up his mind that he WOULD go with them the very next time.

Well, the next time they went, it was raining. The toys badly wanted to go into the garden because the big doll had a little umbrella, and both the teddy and the golly had mackin-toshes and sou'westers of their own. Eileen had bought them for them at the toy-shop, and they had never worn them in the rain.

"I'm coming too," said the sugar-mouse, when he saw them putting on their rain-things.

"You are not," said the big doll. "It's raining. Don't be silly. Sugar-mice never go out in the wet."

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" Well, I shall," said the sugar-mouse. "Anyway, why shouldn't sugar-mice go out in the wet, if you do ? You are just making that up."

"No, I'm not," said the big doll. "I've always heard it said that sugar-mice never go out in the wet, but I don't really know why that is. Anyway, don't be silly, sugar-mouse—we don't want you with us, and it's dangerous for you to go out in the wet. I'm sure it is."

"Well, I'm coming," said the sugar-mouse, and he ran along behind the doll with her umbrella, and the teddy and the golly

in their mackintoshes and sou'westers. They tried to make him go back, but he wouldn't. He was really very naughty. He pinched the big doll very hard, and he trod in a puddle and splashed the teddy from head to foot. They were very cross with him.

It was raining hard when they got out into the garden. The doll didn't mind because she had her umbrella. The teddy and the golly were as dry as could be, and very proud indeed of their mackintoshes. The bear's sou'wester kept falling down over his nose, so that he couldn't see, but he didn't really mind that. The raindrops fell, plop, plop, plop, on to the sugar-mouse, who had no umbrella, no mackintosh, and no sou'wester. At first he thought it was rather fun. Then he thought he didn't like it very much. He began to squeak.

The toys turned round and stared at him." What is wrong with the sugar-mouse ? " asked the big

doll in alarm. " He's going small.""His eyes don't look at me any more," said the golly.

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" His sugar-paws have gone," said the bear."Oh, please, I don't feel at all well," said the sugar-mouse

in a little frightened voice. "Pet me, Big Doll. Cuddle me, Golly. Stroke me, Bear. Be kind to me, please."

Well, the toys were kind-hearted, so they went to pick up the sugar-mouse and comfort him. But they couldn't pick him up. He was going smaller—and smaller—and smaller!

And very soon he was gone altogether. The toys stared in dismay.

"Where has he gone?" said the big doll. "We must take him home quickly. Where has he gone ? "

"Sugar-mouse, where have you gone?" cried the bear.But there was no answer. There never would be. The

silly, vain, mischievous little sugar-mouse had melted in the rain ! What a pity!

Only his tail was left. The big doll carried it sadly back to the nursery and put it on the window-seat. There Eileen found it the next day—but no sugar-mouse was there with the little tail.

"Somebody's eaten him!" cried Eileen, almost in tears. "Oh, who ate my dear little sugar-mouse ?"

"The rain ate him," said the big doll in a whisper. "The rain ate him, Eileen. Oh, what a pity !"

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" I Don't Want To!"

ONCE upon a time there was a little girl called Fanny. She was eight years old, and she had been spoilt. She had been ill quite a lot, and because her mother had been sorry for her, she had let Fanny have her own way far too much.

Whenever she asked Fanny to do something she didn't like, the little girl would say " I don't want to ! " and would pout and frown.

" Will you go and post this letter for me ? " her mother would say. And Fanny would make the usual answer:

"I don't want to! "Well, if you say a thing like that often enough, you just

can't stop, and soon Fanny was saying "I don't want to ! " a hundred times a day.

"What a spoilt child!" people said. Really she is most unpleasant! "

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Her Granny spoke sternly to her. " Fanny," she said, "I don't like this habit you have of saying ' I don't want to 1 ' to everything. Do try to stop."

"I don't want to," said Fanny at once.Well, well—what can you do with a child like that!Now one day Fanny went across the fields and took a

wrong turning. Soon she found herself outside a queer little house. A well stood nearby and an old woman was turning the handle that drew up the bucket of water. She saw Fanny and beckoned to her.

" Little girl, come and help me to get this water! ""I don't want to!" said Fanny at once.The old woman frowned. She wound up the bucket, took

it off the hook, and set it down."You could carry it for me into the house," she said. "I'm

rather tired to-day.""I don't want to ! " said Fanny, of course." Well, what a horrid child ! " said the old dame. " You

can't seem to say anything else but ' I don't want to ! ' Can't you say something pleasant for a change ?"

" I don't want to ! " said Fanny."Very well—don't!" said the old woman. "Say 'I don't

want to! ' and nothing else! Maybe you will soon want to change!"

And with that she went up the path to her cottage, opened the door, went inside and shut the door after her. Fanny felt a bit frightened. She remembered that the old woman had green eyes. Perhaps she was one of the fairy folk!

She ran off, and soon found her path. She went back home— and on the way she met Jane, a school-friend.

" Fanny ! Come and play with me after tea and see my new doll! " called Jane.

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"I don't want to!" said Fanny, much to her own surprise, because she did want to, very much indeed. Jane had told everyone at school about her new doll, which could stand up by itself, and say " Mamma ! "

" All right, don't come then ! " said Jane, offended. " I'll ask Mary."

Fanny walked home, upset. Her mother met her at the door.

"Fanny dear, go and get yourself some sweets before you come in," she said. "You didn't have your Saturday sixpence last week. Go and spend it now."

" I don't want to ! " said Fanny, and made her mother stare in surprise. Fanny stared at her mother too. She hadn't meant to say that! She loved sweets and it was fun to go and buy them. She wanted to say " I do want to ! " but all her tongue said was "I don't want to! " once again.

" My dear child, if you don't want to, you needn't! " said her

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mother. " How tiresome you are sometimes ! I will give your sixpence to John next door."

Fanny walked up to her bedroom, almost in tears. She passed the cook on the way.

" I'm making cakes," said Cook. " Come along down and scrape the dishes out, Miss Fanny."

Now this was a thing that Fanny simply loved doing. But, as you can guess, all her tongue would answer was " I don't want to ! "

"Well, I thought it would be a treat for you," said the cook, offended, and she marched downstairs with her head in the air.

Poor Fanny! This was a dreadful day for her. It seemed as if everyone was offering something nice for her to do. And all she could say was " I don't want to ! "

In the end everyone was cross with her, and her mother sent her to bed. " Go up to bed and stay there ! " said Mummy.

"I don't want to !

" said Fanny. But she had to go all the same.

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Now when she was in bed, crying under the clothes, there came a tap at the door —and who should come in but the old woman who had been by the well.

" Good evening," she said to Fanny. " How have you been getting on with that tongue of yours? Wouldn't it be nice to speak properly again ?”

Fanny couldn't answer, because she knew that if she did, her tongue would say " I don't want to ! " And she did badly want to speak properly again—very, very badly.

"Well now," said the old dame. "I'll make a bargain with you. If you try to be a nice little girl, and will not be spoilt and rude, I'll make your tongue right again. But I warn,you that if you say ' I don't want to' more than once in a day, the spell will come back again and you'll find you can't say anything else but that! "

"Thank you," said Fanny. "I'm sorry I was rude to you. I won't be rude or spoilt any more."

" That's the way to talk!" said the old dame, and she smiled. " Good-bye! Come and see me another day, and may be your tongue will say something nicer to me than ' I don't want to!'"

Well, Fanny found it very hard to get out of her bad habit, but as she knew quite well that the spell would come back if she said "I don't want to" more than once in a day, she was very, very careful. The spell hasn't come back, so maybe she will be all right now.

She is trying to find the old woman's cottage again to tell her that she has cured herself. I wish I could go with her. I'd like to see the old dame's green eyes twinkling at me, wouldn't you ?

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The Little White Hen

ONCE a little white hen came wandering into the garden belonging to Snip and Snap the brownies. They were surprised and pleased.

"We'll try and find out where she belongs, and if we can't, we'll keep her for our own," said Snip.

So they asked everyone in the village if they knew whose the little white hen was, but nobody knew at all. So Snip and Snap kept her.

"We'll make her a dear little hen-house out of a wooden box," said Snip.

"And we'll put a little nest of hay in one corner for her to lay her eggs in," said Snap.

"And she shall be called Snowball," said Snip." That's a silly name for a hen," said Snap. "That's a cat's name."Well, call her White-Feathers then," said Snip.

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So they called her White-Feathers, and threw down some corn for her to peck up. She ran to it with loud clucks and pecked it all up in a few minutes. Then she went into the box that Snip and Snap had set ready for her, and sat down on the hay in the corner.

"She's going to lay us an egg," said Snip, delighted."I shall have it for my breakfast," said Snap." No, you won' t ! " said Snip at once. " I shall have it for

my tea."" Cluck ! " said the hen, and got off the nest. And there,

in the middle of the hay, was the prettiest brown egg you ever saw. The brownies stared in delight. Snip stooped down and got out the egg. It was smooth and warm in his hand.

"Thank you, White-Feathers," he said. "Thank you very much ! "

The brownies looked at the brown egg with joy. This was marvellous !

"Snip! This hen will bring us luck!" said Snap. "If she lays an egg every single day, we can sell some of them. We could sell three of them at threepence each. That's ninepence a week. We could have the other four for ourselves. What shall we do with ninepence a week ? "

"Save it up and buy a little pig!" said Snip. "I've always wanted a pig. They look so round and fat and comfortable. Yes — we'll buy a pig."

"And the pig will grow simply enormous, and we'll sell it and get a lot of money ! " said Snap. " My goodness, we shall be rich ! We might get a whole pound for the pig. What shall we call the pig, Snip?"

"We'll call him Roundy," said Snip. "That's a good name for a pig. Well, what shall we do with the pound that we get for the pig?"

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"We'll buy a cow, and we'll call her Mooey," said Snap. "And we can milk her each day and sell the milk. Snip, we shall soon be rich ! Fancy that! What shall we do with all our money? We'll have bags and bags of it."

" Well, we'll buy ourselves new suits of silver and gold," said Snip.

"And we'll build a new house with a hundred windows and sixty chimneys," said Snap.

"And I'll have a horse and carriage that will go trit-trot, trit-trot all through the town, and make people stare like any-thing," said Snip.

" Oh, no!" said Snap at once. " Not a horse and carriage, Snip. That's very old-fashioned. We'll have a bright-red motor car with yellow wheels, and a horn that goes honk-a-honk-a-honk. Then everyone will jump quickly out of the way ! "

"Everybody has a motor car," said Snip. "I want to be dif-ferent. I want a horse and carriage. And my horse shall be called Clippitty-Clop. And when it goes along its hoofs will say its name all the time—clippitty-clop, clippitty-clop, clippitty-clop —just like that."

"No, Snip," said Snap. "I tell you we'll have a motor car. Don't you want to go honk-a-honk-honk and make everyone rush out of the way ?"

"No, I don't," said Snip. "And, anyway, I can make people get out of my way with a horse and carriage, can't I ? I can whip my horse and make him go like the wind. And what is more, Snap, if I see you coming along I’ll gallop him straight at you and make you jump on to the pavement! "

"Oh, will you?" cried Snap. "Well, let me tell you this, Snip, —when I've got my motor car I’ll drive round the town till I see you coming, and I'll honk my horn so loudly that you'll drop all

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your shopping, and then I4ll drive my red motor car at you, and run you over—bang, bump ! "

"You horrid, unkind thing! " said Snip in a trembling voice. " If you do that, I'll gallop right over you with my horse and tell him to kick you away to the moon."

"You won't, you won't! " cried Snap. "Look—here I come at you with my motor car—look out! "

The angry little brownie pretended that he was in a car, and he rushed at Snip, making a noise like a motor-horn—honk-honk HONK!

"Well, you look out too, then! " shouted Snip, and he pre-tended he was riding on a horse. He galloped at Snap, and the two brownies bumped together so hard that all their breath went. Snip fell over, bang!

He jumped up in a great rage. He still had the egg in his

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hand and he thought it was a stone. He threw it hard at Snap. But he missed him—and the egg sailed through the air and flew straight at White-Feathers the hen, who was listening to the quarrel, quite frightened.

Blip ! The egg hit her hard on the beak. It broke, and the yellow yolk streamed out and fell to the ground. White-Feathers gave an angry cluck.

" Cluck, cluck, cluck ! If that's the way you treat my nice brown egg, I won't stay with you ! Cluck, cluck ! Good-bye ! "

And she spread her pretty white wings and flew right over the fence. Off she went, flapping and running, and the two brownies stared after her in great surprise.

" Come back, White-Feathers, come back! " called Snip, crying big tears down his cheeks.

But she didn't come back. Goodness knows where she went!

" There goes our hen—and Roundy, our nice little pig—and Mooey, our dear cow—and our horse and carriage and bright-red motor car with yellow wheels," wept Snap.

"And we've lost that nice little brown egg too," sobbed Snip. "I'm sorry I was so silly, Snap. Do forgive me."

"I will, because I'm sorry too," said Snap. "Oh, why did we spoil our piece of good luck ? Never mind, Snip—next time a little white hen comes into our garden, we won't quarrel and lose her! "

But so far no white hen has come again. Isn't it a pity? It just shows how silly it is to quarrel, Snip and Snap !

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WOULD you like to grow a funny little tree that you can carry about in your hand ?

Well, get an orange, as unripe as you can. Cut a hole in the top and scoop out all the inside, leaving a hollow of thick skin.

Now fill the hole with bulb fibre if Mummy has some. If not, fill it with earth, though bulb fibre is the best.

Now get a chestnut or an acorn and plant it in your orange ! Yes, it will grow, and you will have a little tree sprouting out root and shoot in the orange. If the root tries to grow out of the orange, you must cut it short.

You can carry your growing tree quite easily by holding the orange in your hand whenever you want to take it to show anyone!

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JIMMY had a railway train that ran by clockwork on toy railway-lines. He had a little station too, with porters and passengers standing on it. He had a fine signal that went up and down—and he had a tunnel for the train to go under.

But that tunnel was too mischievous for anything! It always managed to set itself just a bit crooked when the train came rushing through—and, of course, the engine knocked into it, ran off the lines, and fell over. Then Jimmy would shout loudly:

" An accident! An accident! "The tunnel thought this was great fun. It didn't matter how

carefully Jimmy set the tunnel over the lines, it always managed to make itself crooked when the train came running by. And always there was an accident.

At first Jimmy and Jane, his sister, thought this was rather fun. But when it happened every time they got tired of it.

" I wish the train would run round and round properly until the clockwork was run down," said Jimmy. " It always falls off by the tunnel."

"Well, it shouldn't," said Jane, looking through the tunnel. "The tunnel doesn't touch the lines, Jimmy. It's supposed to

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be quite wide enough for the train to run through. I think it's a mischievous tunnel. Look—I've set it so that the train can run right through without touching at all."

B All right," said Jimmy. " I'll put lots of passengers on the train, Jane, and give them a good trip. And I'll put some toy cows into the cow-trucks too. The guard shall go in the guard's van. My, it's a full train. It mustn't have an accident this time!"

Well, when the tunnel heard what a lot of passengers were going to be on the train, it felt more mischievous than ever. It would certainly upset the train if it could—and then what a lot of people would fall out!

So once again it set itself just a bit crooked so that it touched the line. Jimmy wound up the engine. The signal looked at the crooked tunnel and spoke to it.

" Tunnel! I can see you've put yourself crooked. Now don't play tricks this time. You know quite well that Jimmy and Jane are tired of them. Don't upset the train."

"I shall do as I like," said the tunnel, and set itself more crooked than ever.

Jimmy set the engine down on the line. He hooked the coal-truck on to it. Behind were all the carriages, the cow-trucks, and the guard's van. It was a fine long train, but the engine was strong and could quite well pull them all.

Jimmy waved his green flag. The signal worked. Jane whistled. The train was off. Round the lines it sped, as fast as it could, and behind it ran all the trucks as happy as could be, with the dolls jerking up and down in them, and the cows looking out of their trucks too.

The engine reached the tunnel. Its key caught against it. It ran off the lines. The carriages all fell over. Out tumbled the

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dolls and the cows. Another accident—and a bad one this time !

" Oh dear ! This little doll has broken her arm ! " said Jane. " And this cow has broken off her tail. Bother that horrid tunnel. We won't use it for a tunnel any more! "

Jane picked up the tunnel and put it away from the lines. " But what else can a tunnel be used for ?" Jimmy asked. " I'll soon show you! " said Jane, and she went to the doll's chest. She took out a little mattress, a pillow, a bolster, two sheets, and two blankets. She turned the tunnel upside down, and neatly arranged all the bedclothes inside.

"It shall be a cradle for my baby-doll! " she said. "I haven't a bed small enough for her—and the tunnel will do nicely. If it can't behave like a proper tunnel, it shall behave like a cradle ! "

Well, you should have heard the signal and the porters, the

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passengers and the engine driver laugh when they saw what was happening to the tunnel. A baby-doll's cradle! Well, well, well!

As for the tunnel, it was in a great rage; but it couldn't turn itself the right way up—so there it is still, a nice little cradle for the baby-doll. And doesn't it wish it was a proper tunnel again, watching the railway train rush round and round and round! Maybe if Jimmy ever gives it another chance it will really try to behave itself.

Toy Riddle-me-ree

My first is in dinner but isn't in tea, My second's in you but it isn't in me, My third is in Alice and Mollie and Len, My fourth's in eleven but isn't in ten, My whole you will find in a cot or a pram, You'll love me and fuss me wherever I am! What am I ?

Answer on page 56

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Betsy-May and the Bear

BETSY-MAY had a beautiful dolls pram. It was green and had a hood that went up and down like the hood on her baby-brother's pram. It had a brake too, and a shining handle. It was really lovely.

Betsy-May took her dolls and her bear out every single day in the pram. She said they liked an outing as much as Baby James.

"Teddy-bear likes it best of all," she told her mother. "He needs a lot of fresh air. He told me so."

"Did he really?" said her mother. "Well, he is a most sensible bear then. He knows what is best for bears and little girls too. You must take him out every day, Betsy-May."

Now one day something went wrong with Betsy-May's dolls pram. A big screw came out and Betsy-May didn't notice it. It fell on the ground. Then a wheel came loose because the

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screw wasn't there, and at last it came right off. Betsy-May was most upset.

" Now don't get worried," said Mummy. "We will take it to the bicycle-shop and leave it there to be mended. They will only take a little while to do it."

But the bicycle-man was very busy mending bicycles, and he said it would be two days before the pram was mended. Betsy-May was sorry.

"My dolls and my bear will miss going out for their walk," she told the man. "Can't you mend it to-day, please?"

"No, I can't, Missy," said the man. "Your dolls and your bear had better have a cold and stay in bed to-day and to-morrow. Then they won't mind not going out."

"They've only just had

colds," said Betsy-May. "They can't have another one just yet. Well, never mind. They must be patient."

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Betsy-May went to look at her dolls and her bear the next day. " I am very, very sorry not to be able to take you out," she said. " But the pram isn't mended yet. I do hope you won't mind very much."

The dolls looked up at her with smiling faces. But the bear didn't smile. Betsy-May looked at him. She thought he really looked very sad.

"Cheer up," she said. "It's only to-day and to-morrow you can't go out."

But the bear still looked very sad. Betsy-May quite expected to see tears running out of his eyes, but though she watched him for quite a long while, he was brave enough not to cry.

Betsy-May felt unhappy because her bear was unhappy. He came to bed with her every night, and he was her favourite toy. He was so soft and cuddlesome, and he had such a nice friendly face. She went to nurse and told her.

"He looks dreadfully sad," she said. "I do wish I could borrow a pram from somewhere. I suppose you wouldn't let me have Baby's pram, would you? I'd be very careful."

" Good gracious, no ! " said nurse. "If you so badly want to take your bear out, why don't you put a cushion into your little barrow, and a rug or two, and take the bear out in that ? "

"That is a good idea!" said Betsy-May in delight. "I'll get it."

So she got the little barrow and made a nice bed inside it with a little pillow, a tiny mattress, a sheet, and a rug.

"What shall I do for a hood?" she wondered. "He must have a hood over him, because of the sun. He doesn't like the sun in his eyes. Oh—I know ! I'll get a little umbrella—my own one—and put it up for the hood."

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So she did. Really, the barrow looked fine, almost like a pram !

Betsy-May set off with the barrow-pram. She went down the garden, and out of the gate at the bottom into the quiet little lane. She wheeled the barrow along for a good way and then she met Mrs. Jordans.

"Good morning, Betsy-May," said Mrs. Jordans. "That's a funny pram you have this morning! Which doll are you taking for a walk ? "

" It's my teddy-bear I'm taking," said Betsy-May. " He's under the umbrella. That's for a hood, you see."

Mrs. Jordans peeped under the umbrella. Then she lifted it a little and peeped again.

"Well, that's funny," she said, "I can't see him ! "Betsy-May lifted up the umbrella in alarm. Goodness

gracious, there was no bear there ! How very astonishing !

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"Where's he gone?" cried Betsy-May. "Oh, Mrs. Jordans, please help me to look for him ! He's my own darling favourite bear, and he goes to bed with me at night. Oh, where can he be? Do you suppose he jumped out of the barrow because he didn't like it ? "

"I shouldn't really think so," said Mrs. Jordans.Betsy-May looked up and down the lane, hoping to see a

small bear running away. But there wasn't one to be seen. She began to cry bitterly.

" Oh, he's gone ! I've lost him! I only took him out in the barrow because he looked so sad. And now he's quite, quite lost."

Mrs. Jordans tried to comfort Betsy-May, but the little girl pushed away her hand and ran home, with the barrow bumping up and down in front of her. She ran up the garden, sobbing loudly. Nurse looked out of the nursery window, most alarmed.

" Betsy-May, have you hurt yourself," she called, " What's the matter ?"

Betsy-May rushed upstairs to nurse, still crying. " Oh, a dreadful thing has happened ! " she wept. "I've lost Teddy. He's gone. He jumped out of my barrow."

Nurse looked at Betsy-May and laughed. " Then he must have run back home very quickly," she said. " Because there he is on that chair, Betsy-May."

Betsy-May looked at the chair—and sure enough, there was the teddy-bear sitting on the chair, with a little straw hat on his head, and a little scarf round his neck.

" Oh ! The darling! He's here after all! " squealed Betsy-May, and she ran to the bear and took him up to hug him. "

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Oh, did you run all the way back ? Oh, how glad I am to have you again ! "

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Betsy-May sat down on the chair with the bear and thought hard. She went very red.

"What's the matter now?" asked nurse."Do you know, Fm a very silly girl/' said Betsy-May in a

rather small voice. "I don't believe I put Teddy into the barrow

at all. I arranged it all so beautifully for him and put the umbrella on top for a hood—and then I went off without him ! I couldn't see he wasn't there, because of the umbrella. Do you think he thinks I'm very silly ? "

"No, I should think he feels as I do—that you really are the funniest child in the world!" said nurse. "I should think he wants to laugh, just as I do ! "

And when Betsy-May looked at the bear, he didn't look sad any more. He really did look as if he wanted to laugh! And I'm not surprised at that, are you?

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What a Shock for William!

ONCE there was a boy called William who threw stones at cats and birds. He was a very good shot, and he hit them nearly every time. He broke a robin's leg once, and that made the other children feel very miserable.

Nobody knew how to stop William throwing stones. When Jane flew into a temper with him and stamped her foot and said she would tell her father, William only laughed.

So Jane ran off—but William picked up a stone, sent it skidding along after her, and hit her sharply on the knee. He just didn't care what anyone thought or said.

One day he was going down the road when he saw a little brown animal sitting on a wall not far off. William stared hard. What was it ?

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"It's not a cat. It certainly isn't a dog. Then what is it?" he thought. " Good gracious ! It's a monkey ! "

So, of course, he did what he usually did—he picked up a stone and threw it at the monkey. Zip ! It hit the little animal on the back.

The monkey gave a squawk of surprise. He looked round and saw William picking up another stone.

" Oho ! It's a game, is it ?" thought the little brown monkey, who could throw very well indeed himself. " Well, two can play at that game ! "

He skipped down from the wall and picked up two or three stones from the path. He pattered towards William, and then threw one of the stones at him.

The monkey could aim every bit as well as William. Zip. The stone caught the boy on the elbow, and how he yelled! The monkey gave a little chattering laugh, and he threw another stone. It hit William on the ankle. Ooooooh ! How it hurt!

"You wicked monkey! Stop it!" cried William, and he threw quite a big stone at the little brown creature. The monkey hopped out of the way. Then what do you think he did? He climbed up into a tree that was full of ripening apples, and began to pick them as fast as he could !

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And every one that he picked he threw at poor William. Biff! Thud! Zip ! Hard apples fell all round him, and he fell over on his face, trying to dodge them.

The monkey was so excited and pleased that he danced up and down in the tree, chattering loudly. Then he saw some plants with ripe red tomatoes growing on them. Down he scampered, and was soon pelting poor William with red tomatoes! They hit him everywhere and soon he was covered with red juice.

He sat in the road and howled. Mrs. Brown, who lived in

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the house nearby, came running out. She saw her empty apple-tree and her empty tomato plants. She didn't see the monkey, who had flown away.

But she saw William with apples and tomatoes all around him and she was very angry indeed.

" You bad boy ! You've been taking my apples and tomatoes ! And you're the boy that's always throwing stones, aren't you ? Just you wait whilst I go and get a policeman ! "

But William didn't wait! He got up and ran home as if a thousand monkeys were after him—and didn't he get a spanking from his mother for spoiling his clothes with tomato juice!

"It wasn't my fault," he wept, "A horrid naughty monkey threw tomatoes at me ! "

"Well, I'm sure you threw a stone first," said his mother. " See what a fine punishment you have had! "

He had, hadn't he? And I'm sure you won't be surprised to hear that William hasn't thrown a single stone at any animal or bird since!

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Tommy's White Duck

TOMMY had a real live duck of his own. He had had it given to him when it was just a little yellow duckling, and somehow or other nobody had ever thought what it would be like when it grew up !

At first it was just a dear little yellow bird, crying, " Peep, peep, peep! " all day. Daddy made it a tiny run of its own, with wire netting all round, and a small coop for it to sleep in. Tommy fed it and gave it a small bowl of water to swim in.

And then, quite suddenly, it seemed, it began to grow! By the time the middle of the summer came it was quite a big duck. It had lost its pretty yellow down and grew snowy-white feathers. It no longer said " Peep, peep ! " but " Quack, quack, quack! " in quite a loud voice.

Daddy had to make the run bigger. The days went on, and the duck grew and grew. It could no longer swim in the bowl, nor even in the tin bath Mummy put for it.

" Daddy, could we make a little pond for my duck ? " asked Tommy one day. " I could help you to dig it out, couldn't I ? "

"Dear me, I'm not going to dig a pond for that noisy old duck! " said Daddy. " It's got too big for us now, Tommy. We shall have to sell it."

" Daddy!" cried Tommy, his eyes full of tears. " Sell my duck! Oh, I couldn't! Why, perhaps somebody would have it for their dinner—it would be simply dreadful! "

" Well, dear, it's really too big now," said Daddy. "Besides it has such a noisy quack."

" But, Daddy, if we made it a little pond of its own, it would be happy and wouldn't quack for one," said Tommy.

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"I'm sure that's why it's quacking such a lot—because it wants a swim."

"Well, Tommy, what about letting the farmer's wife have the duck back ?" asked Daddy. " She gave it to you when it was a duckling, and maybe she'd like it back now, to go with her other ducks. Then it could swim on her big pond."

Tommy didn't say any more. He could see that Daddy didn't want the duck, and that it would have to go. But he was very sad about it, and he went slowly out to the garden to talk to the duck.

" Quack! " said the duck joyfully when it saw Tommy."Hallo," said Tommy. "Dear old duck, I'm afraid you're

going to be given away, and won't live with me any more."" Quack! " said the duck, and gave Tommy a small,

loving peck.Well, the very next day the duck was taken down the lane

to the farm, and Tommy had to say good-bye to it. The duck seemed very puzzled, but when it saw the other ducks it went quite mad with joy and dashed into the pond, waddling so fast that it fell over its own big flat feet!

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" There you are ! " said Daddy turning to Tommy. " See how pleased the duck is to be here ! "

"But it will miss me when it's got used to being here," said Tommy. "It will want me, Daddy."

"Nonsense! " said Daddy, laughing, and he took Tommy home.

Well, it so happened that Tommy was right, for the very next day the duck had a look round and thought, " Where's Tommy ? Where's my own run ? Where's the garden I know so well? Where, oh where, is Tommy?"

The duck sat in the sun and thought. It loved Tommy and wanted to be with him. So what did it do but walk over the farmyard and squeeze under the gate, and set off waddling up the lane, back to Tommy's house and garden !

"Quack!" it said as it went. "Quack!" Up the dusty lane it went, and at last it came to Tommy's house. Nobody was in. Tommy was at school. Tommy's daddy was at work. Tommy's mother had slipped in the house next door to talk to Mrs. White. But the baby was in her pram in the garden fast asleep.

" Quack! " said the duck, squeezing through the hedge and looking round for Tommy. But just then something happened.

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There came the sound of thundering hoofs and two of the farm-horses galloped up the lane !

Someone had left the field-gate open, and the horses had got out. They were excited and were running after one another. And what do you think happened ? Why, one of them saw the garden-gate open and galloped through into the garden!

The duck knew quite well this was wrong. Suppose the horse knocked the pram over? Good gracious, look at the mess it was making of the lovely lawn, sinking its hard heels deep into the grass!

There was only one thing to do, and the duck knew what it was ! It knew quite well that usually when it quacked loudly, Tommy's mother came to the window and said, "Sh! Sh! YouTl wake the baby! " And if only the duck could make her come, she would see the galloping horse and everything would be put right! The duck didn't know that Tommy's mother was not in the house, of course.

It began to quack. How it quacked! You should have heard it! "Quack, quack, quack, quack, QUACK, QUACK, QUACK!"

Tommy's mother heard the loud quacking from the next-door house. " Well! " she said in surprise, " that sounds just

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like our duck—but it can't be, because Daddy took it down to the farm yesterday."

" Quack, quack, quack, quack, QUACK, QUACK ! " cried the duck, as the horse galloped round the garden once more.

" It must be our duck! " said Tommy's mother and she ran back home to see—and, of course, she at once saw the horse in the garden !

"Oh! Oh!" she cried. "It will knock the pram over! It will knock the pram over ! "

She caught up a stick and ran to the excited horse. She drove it to the gate—and it went out at a gallop, off down the lane to the farm, where the other horse had also gone.

Mummy shut the gate. She was quite pale and frightened. Tommy came running home from school and wondered what was the matter.

"Oh, Tommy ! " said Mummy, "one of those great farm-horses got into the garden this afternoon when I was next door, and nearly knocked the pram over ! "

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" But how did you know it was here, galloping about ?" asked Tommy. " Did you hear Baby crying ? "

"No—I heard your old duck quacking! " said Mummy. "Fancy that, Tommy! It must have walked all the way up the lane to get back to you—and it quacked loudly when it saw the horse, and warned me."

" Oh, you good old duck ! " cried Tommy running to his duck

and putting his arms round its snowy neck. "You good old thing! You saved Baby ! Mummy—I do wish we could keep my duck! Look how it's come all the way home again! "

" You shall keep it," said Mummy, and she patted the surprised duck on the head. "When I tell Daddy about how it warned me this afternoon by quacking so loudly, he will be sure to say it can stay with you now."

So Mummy told Daddy—and what do you think he and Tommy are doing this week ? Guess !

Yes—they are both digging out a nice little pond for the duck, for it is to stay with Tommy, of course. Won't it be pleased to have a pond of its own! Yesterday it laid its first egg—and Daddy had it for breakfast!

"Quack! " said the duck. "Fm one of the family. You can't get rid of me ! Quack! "

Toy Riddle-me-ree

My first is in little but isn't in big,My second's in elephant, but not in pig,My third is in dinner but isn't in tea,

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My fourth is in spider but isn't in bee,My fifth is in merry but isn't in glum,My whole is a toy with a growl in his turn.What am I ?

Answer on page 128.

THERE was once a tiny rubber doll, no bigger than your middle ringer, who lived in Betsy-May's dolls' house. Betsy-May loved this doll because she could squeak. Whenever she was squeezed in her middle she said "Eee-eee," just like that.

But one day a dreadful thing happened to the rubber doll. Betsy-May took her out of the doll's house to show her to Tommy, who had come to tea—and Tommy trod on her quite by accident.

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And that killed the squeak in the poor little doll. She couldn't squeak any more at all. You can't think how sad she was, because, you see, it was the only voice she had.

There were three other dolls in the dolls' house—two tiny wooden ones and a little china one. They were very upset when the rubber doll lost her squeak.

"Let us put her to bed for a day," they said. "Maybe she will get her squeak back, if she rests."

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So they put her to bed in one of the little beds in the doll's bedroom, and looked after her well. But when she got up again, she still had no squeak, though all the dolls pressed her as hard as they could in the middle.

Betsy-May was just as sad as the dolls about it. She looked at the little rubber doll and squeezed her in the middle—but no squeak came.

"I don't like you so much now," said Betsy-May. " You don't seem right without a squeak."

Well, that made the rubber doll cry bitterly that night. It was dreadful not to be liked so much. After all, she couldn't help losing her squeak. The other dolls comforted her, and gave her a tiny sweet out of the toy sweet-shop.

Then they put her to bed again, and tucked her up well. They went down into the kitchen and talked about the poor rubber doll.

"It would be so lovely to hear her squeak again," said the china doll, lighting a tiny candle in a candlestick, for it was dark in the doll's kitchen.

And just at that very moment they heard a perfectly lovely squeak. " Eee-eee-eee ! " it went. " Eee-eee-eee ! "

" The rubber doll has got her squeak back! " they cried, and they rushed upstairs. But no—how queer—the rubber doll was fast asleep and not squeaking at all. As the three dolls stood looking down on her, they heard the squeak again " Eee-eee-eee ! "

And then somebody knocked quietly on the little knocker on the dolls' house front door. Down went the three dolls to see who it was.

Outside the door stood a tiny mouse. He twitched his fine whiskers and spoke humbly to the dolls.

" Oh, please, the golliwog told me you wanted a squeak, and

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I have a fine one. I am

very, very hungry, so if you would give me something nice to eat, I will let you have my squeak." The dolls stared in delight. " Come in," said the china doll. "I hope we have got something for you to eat. But I don't believe, we have, you know."

The mouse went in. The dolls opened the little kitchen cupboard —but it was quite, quite empty. There was nothing to eat at all!

"Oh dear, what a pity," said the china doll. "It would have been marvellous to have got a new squeak for the rubber doll."

The baby mouse looked at the candle burning on the table. "Could I have that candle to eat?" he asked. "It is made of tallow, and I like tallow."

" Good gracious ! Fancy wanting to eat a candle ! " cried the dolls. They blew it out at once, took it from the tiny candlestick, and gave it to the mouse. He asked them for a glass of water. When they gave it to him he squeaked into it

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about twenty times. Then he put his paw over the top of the glass and gave it to the china doll.

"Let the rubber doll drink this and her squeak will come back," he said. Then off he went out of the front door with his candle. What a treat for him !

The three dolls rushed upstairs and woke the surprised rubber doll. They made her drink the glass of water. Then they pressed

her hard in the middle—and she said "EEEE-EEEE-EEEE!" just like that. Wasn't she surprised !

"Oh, your squeak is back again!" cried the china doll. " Won't Betsy-May be pleased ? "

Well, Betsy-May was pleased, of course—but she could never imagine where the little candle in the dolls' house had gone.

You could tell her, couldn't you?

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Answer to Riddle-me-ree on page 61 —TRAIN.

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The Boy Who Wouldn't Race

IT was such fun by the sea. Ronnie was there with his mother, and so were many other children. They had a lovely time digging and paddling and bathing.

In the morning at ten o'clock Uncle Dick came along. He wasn't really Ronnie's uncle, or anybody else's either—but all the children called him Uncle Dick.

He was great fun. He called the boys and girls round him, made them stand in rows, and gave them all kinds of exercises to do. Then they marched after him up and down the sands— and after that there were races.

The races were exciting, because Uncle Dick always gave fine prizes to the winners. Sometimes it was a chocolate ice-cream. Sometimes it was a bag of sweets. Sometimes it was a boat or a new spade. So all the children ran to him when he came down on the beach, eager to do exactly what he told them.

All except Ronnie. He was shy. Wasn't it a pity ? Of course, lots of children are shy, but if only they knew what fun they

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miss, they would soon hurry up and join in everything. But Ronnie simply wouldn't.

" Ronnie, you are a very silly little boy," said his mother every morning. " Why don't you go and join the other children and do those lovely exercises and run races ? It would do you such a lot of good."

"I don't like things that do me good," said Ronnie." Oh yes, you do ! " said his mother. " Ice-creams do you

good, and you like those. Oranges do you good, and you like those too. It's no good saying that to me. You get up and go to Uncle Dick. Maybe you would win a race and get a chocolate ice-cream."

"I don't want to," said Ronnie. "My legs aren't quick at running. I should be last."

" How do you know if your legs are quick or slow, if you never run races ? " said his mother. " You might have very quick legs for all you know."

"Well, I don't want to run races," said Ronnie. "I want to stay here by you."

"I think you're a baby," said his mother. "You make me cross. You're growing a big boy now, and it's time you did the things the other boys do."

But it wasn't a bit of good. Ronnie wouldn't go. Even Uncle Dick couldn't make him, though he tried to.

" Come along! " he said, holding out his hand. " You're the only little fellow on the beach who doesn't run races for me. My word, I'd like to see those legs of yours twinkling along the sands. I'm sure they can run like the wind."

"They can't," said Ronnie. "I'd be last. And I'd hate that."

"Well, somebody's got to be last," said Uncle Dick, "but they're not always last. Sometimes they're first. Come along, now."

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But Ronnie wouldn't, so after a while Uncle Dick and his mother said no more to him. But he really couldn't help wishing he wasn't so silly when he saw the winners of the races getting ice-creams and sailing-boats !

Now, one afternoon the wind got up. Goodness me, it was a wind! It whipped the waves up, and made the sea so rough that the bathers didn't dare to go out very far. Each wave had a frothy top that flew into foam. It was fun to watch them.

The children's hair blew out in the wind. A big ball flew along the beach, blown by the breeze, and two children ran after it, panting. The ships on the sea sailed by swiftly, their little sails full of wind.

Uncle Dick came down on the beach to read a book. The

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children didn't notice him, for most of them were building a castle a little way off. Ronnie saw him and stared at him. He thought he had the nicest face in the world, all twinkly and kind.

Uncle Dick wore a straw hat with a ribbon round. The wind played with the ribbon for a while and then it thought it would have a game with the hat. So it swooped down on it, blew round Uncle Dick's neck, and then lifted the hat right off his head. Into the air it went, ever so high—and then down to the sands ! Ronnie saw it.

The wind took hold of the hat again and began to roll it swiftly along the beach. Over and over it went, and over and over.

Mother saw it. She called to Ronnie. "Ronnie, go after the hat. It will roll into the sea. Quick—Uncle Dick is so kind, you can at least do that for him! "

Ronnie jumped up. He tore after the hat. A few other children saw it too, and they raced along the beach to get it. "Go it!" yelled Uncle Dick. "That's the way! Run, run! You'll save my hat yet! "

All the children ran their hardest. "This is a race with the hat! " shouted one of them.

Ronnie ran as hard as he could. He meant to get that hat. He meant to save it from going into the sea and being spoilt. He liked Uncle Dick, and he was glad to do something for him.

Ronnie caught the hat. He pounced on it just as it was going into the water. The other children rushed up.

"How fast you run!" they cried. "You raced the hat and us too ! "

Ronnie didn't say anything. He was quite out of breath. He went slowly back to Uncle Dick with the hat.

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"Many thanks ! " said Uncle Dick. "Many, many thanks. It's an old hat, but I am fond of it. My word, how you can run! You won that race all right, didn't you ? Allow me to give you the prize! "

And before Ronnie could say yes or no, he felt a large chocolate ice-cream being put into his hand.

"Oh—thanks very much," he said. "That's kind of you. I shall enjoy it!"

And back he ran to his mother to eat it. She looked at him proudly.

"Ronnie, you did run fast," she said. “Il really felt proud to see you. What a pity you won't join the others in their races each day."

Well, the next morning when Uncle Dick came down to the beach and called the children round him, Ronnie went too! He had been thinking about things in bed, and he had found out that he was really a silly little boy !

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"What's the good of being shy and not joining in any-thing?" he thought. "It's only because I'm afraid of not doing so well as the others. That's cowardly. Even if I don't win many times, even if I'm last, what does it matter? I'll have some fun. But I do believe my legs can run fast! "

So to his mother's great surprise the little boy ran to join the others—and when the time came for racing, how he ran! He wasn't first, because there were bigger boys—but he certainly wasn't last. He was third !

" Jolly good ! " cried Uncle Dick. " Now here's a boat for the first one—an ice-cream for the second one—and what about a bag of sweets for the third one! Good for you, Ronnie! I'm glad my hat taught you that your legs can run as fast as anybody else's!"

It really was funny that Ronnie had to be taught a lesson by a fly-away hat, wasn't it !

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The Tiresome Twins

ONCE it happened that Timothy and Tilda, the tiresome twins, had an hour after tea-time to do just what they liked.

"I don't mind what you do," said mother. "You may go and play in the garden—or look at the shops—or go to the park—or run to see Aunt Susan. You can choose. You have exactly an hour to do what you like."

She went out of the room. The twins looked at one another in glee. "What shall we choose?" asked Tilda.

"Let's go to the park and sail my boat," said Timothy."What! Sail your old boat again I " cried Tilda. "It will

be worn out with sailing ! "

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"It isn't an old boat, it's a new one," said Timothy crossly."It's more old than new," said Tilda. "You had it last

birthday. Let's go and ask Aunt Susan to let us feed her chickens. I always like doing that."

" Oh you're mad on feeding chickens!" said Timothy in disgust. " Why do you always want to feed things ? That would be a silly thing to do."

"You never want to do anything I like," said Tilda, sulking.

" There you go ! Sulking again ! I never knew such a girl! " cried Timothy.

"Well, there you go, scolding again," cried Tilda. "You're just horrid. Well, if you don't want to feed chickens, let's go and have a swing in the garden."

"The swing's broken, you know that," said Timothy." I did not know that! " cried Tilda. " You must have

broken it then, you bad boy! ""I didn't break it," said Timothy. "It was broken when I

went to have a swing on it."" Story-teller! " said Tilda." I'll smack you if you call me names ! " said Timothy

fiercely."No, you won't," said Tilda. "You're a boy and I'm a girl,

and boys aren't supposed to hit girls.""Well, girls like you deserve to be smacked, and if you

dare to call me a story-teller again I certainly will slap you," said Timothy, glaring at Tilda.

"Story-teller ! " said Tilda at once.Timothy rushed at her. She picked up a blue cushion and

held it in front of her to protect herself. Timothy tried to tear it away from her. They tugged and pulled for all they were worth.

Then Timothy did manage to slap Tilda and she was very

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angry. She lifted up the cushion and brought it down as hard as she could on Timothy's head. BLIP!

He grabbed the cushion for himself and hit Tilda with it. A seam burst, and feathers flew into the air.

" Oooh ! You bad boy ! Look what you've done ! " cried Tilda.

"I didn't do it. You did ! " said Timothy. " You got hold of the cushion first and hit me with it."

" Oh, you are a bad boy ! " cried Tilda. " You know it was you that burst the cushion! "

Timothy hit Tilda again with the cushion and more feathers flew. She tore the cushion from him and chased him round the room with it. In the middle of all this the door opened and mother came in.

She stood and stared in horror, for the room was absolutely full of flying feathers from the cushion! The tiresome twins stopped righting and stood still.

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"What is the meaning of all this?" asked mother crossly. " Just look at the room—full of feathers from one of my best cushions. You are two tiresome children, and you will please clean up the room, pick up all the feathers, and you, Tilda, will put them back into the cushion and sew the seam up neatly."

" But that will take us a whole hour, till we go to bed!" said Tilda, in dismay. "You said we could do what we liked."

"Well, you seem to have chosen to quarrel, and make a mess of my room, said mother. " If that is what you like doing, you've done it—and now you must do what / choose ! "

So the tiresome twins had to spend all their precious playtime clearing up hundreds of feathers and putting them back into the cushion.

" It's a waste of time to quarrel," said Tilda sadly. " Don't let's do it again."

" No—don't let's," said Timothy.But I expect they will start all over again to-morrow.

Some children just seem to love quarrelling, don't they!

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The Tooth Under the Pillow

ANNE was feeling rather excited. One of her first teeth had come out that morning, and mother had said something rather surprising.

"We'll put it under your pillow to-night, Anne," she said."Why?" asked Anne."Because the fairies like the little first teeth of children,"

said mother. "Maybe one will come to-night and take your tooth—and perhaps leave you a little silver sixpence for it! "

That seemed very surprising to Anne. She thought about it all day long—and she made up her mind that she would keep awake that night so that she might see the fairy if one came!

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Well, at night Anne put the tiny white tooth under her pillow, and then she waited and waited for the fairy to come. But no fairy came.

"I shall soon be asleep ! " thought Anne, yawning. "I wish I could think of some idea that would wake me up as soon as the fairy took the tooth ! "

She did think of an idea! She got out of bed and went to mother's work-box. She took out a reel of white cotton and broke off a piece of thread. She tied it carefully around the little tooth and put it back under her pillow—and she tied the other end of the cotton to her own little finger !

"Now!" thought Anne, "if the fairy comes and takes the tooth—the thread will pull at my finger—and I shall wake up ! "

She fell asleep. She dreamed of all kinds of things—and then suddenly she felt something tugging at her little finger! She woke up at once, and remembered the tooth under the pillow. The fairy must be there, fetching it.

The moonlight streamed into the room, and Anne could quite well see everything. By her bed stood a tiny creature, hardly bigger than Anne's biggest doll! She had a mop of bright shiny

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hair, little pointed ears that stuck up through it, and a pair of silvery wings that grew out from the back of her. There wasn't any doubt at all that it was a fairy.

Anne put out her hand and caught hold of her! She could hold her as easily as a doll. The fairy gave a squeal of surprise and began to wriggle hard. But Anne wouldn't let her go. She lifted her up on to the bed and took a good look at her.

"What a dear little thing you are!" she said. "I did so want to see you. Have you come for my tooth ? "

"Yes," said the fairy. "But it was on a bit of cotton. Why did you tie it to your finger?"

"Because I wanted to wake up when you came, and have a look at you," said Anne. "Why do you want my little tooth?"

"Well, it's made of ivory," said the fairy. "And ivory is nice to carve. I take children's little teeth to Mister Snoodle, and he carves them into tiny toys for fairy children."

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"Oh, how lovely!" said

Anne. " What tiny toys they must be ! I would so like to see them."

"You can't," said the fairy. "Mister Snoodle never lets any but fairy children have them."

"Well, after all, it's my tooth ! " Anne said. "I don't think I shall let you go until you promise to bring me back the toy that my little tooth is carved into."

"Oh, do let me go," begged the tiny creature in alarm. "I have to be back home before dawn. Everyone will be worried if I don't get back then."

"Well, will you promise to bring me the toy that my tooth makes?" asked Anne. "You needn't leave me the sixpence. I don't want that. I'd rather have my tooth back again, and see what Mister Snoodle has made of it! "

"I can't promise that," said the fairy, beginning to wriggle again. "Don't be unkind, little girl. Let me go. Mister Snoodle

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badly needs a few teeth just now. He hasn't had any for a long time."

"Well, listen," said Anne. "I have two more teeth that are loose. I promise you that you shall have them for Mister Snoodle when they come out. I'll put them under my pillow. Now will you say that I can have this tooth when it's made into a toy?"

"Oh, well, if you really do promise to let me have two more teeth soon, I'll see what I can do about it," said the fairy. "Now please, let me go ! "

Anne let her go. The tiny thing spread her wings and fluttered down from the bed. She carried the little tooth with

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her on its thread. She flew out of the top of the window into the moonlight, and was gone.

Anne felt very excited the next morning. She told her mother all about the fairy. Mother laughed, and shook her head. "You dreamed it, darling," she said.

"Well, Mother, there's no sixpence under my pillow this morning," said Anne, "so I'm sure I did catch the fairy and give

her my tooth! Oh, won't it be fun if she comes back again with a tiny toy! "

Anne looked under her pillow every morning to see if a little ivory toy was there, but it wasn't. Then one evening another of her front teeth came out. " I'll put it under my pillow, and maybe the fairy will come back again," thought Anne. " I'll tie it to my finger by a thread again. Then I shall wake."

But, you know, she didn't wake! The fairy came; but this time she had a small pair of scissors with her, and she snipped the thread, so that she could take the tooth without waking Anne! When the little girl found that her tooth was gone, and that she still had a piece of cotton tied round her finger she guessed what had happened !

She hunted carefully under the pillow and in the bed, and she found the tiniest little toy imaginable. You would love it. It was a very, very small engine, carved out of her old tooth—so small that it could hardly be seen! It had a tiny funnel, and it even had two very, very tiny lamps in front, carved out of the ivory.

" Oh—it's simply beautiful! " cried Anne. " Oh, I'll be afraid of losing it! Mother, Mother, look! What shall I do with

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this beautiful little fairy toy ? I mustn't lose it. It's the most precious thing I have ! "

"We will put it on to your bracelet," said mother. "You shall wear it as a lucky charm. I'll do it for you now. What a lovely little thing it is ! "

So Anne wears her engine-tooth on her bracelet, and how all the children love to see it. Isn't she lucky?

She says I am to tell you that it really is a good idea to tie a bit of cotton to a tooth under the pillow—just in case you catch a fairy that way, as she did. It's worth trying, isn't it?

The Disobedient Boy

ONE morning, when the May sun was shining brightly, Miss Brown spoke to the children in her class. "Farmer Straw

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has sent me a note," she said. "He says that you children will not shut the gates of his cow-fields, and so the cows keep wandering out. Now please understand this : not one of you is to go into the fields at all until I give you permission again. I have told you so many times to shut the gates, and perhaps if you are not allowed to go and pick butter-cups in Farmer Straw's fields for a little while, you will remember to shut the gates next time! "

"We can go on the hills, though, can't we, and in the woods?" asked Hilda.

"Yes," said Miss Brown. "There are no gates to be shut there. Now I hope you all understand that I mean what I say— for this whole week, anyhow, not one of you is to go into Farmer Straw's fields! "

The children were sad, because Farmer Straw owned all the fields around, and it was such fun to go and play in them, especially in the ones that had little streams running through.

"I always remember to shut the gates," said Doris."Well, I never do," said Will, "but—I never open them

either ! I climb over them ! ""Some have barbed wire at the top, and once I tore my

clothes and my mother was angry," said John. "So I do open the gates when I go through. But I shut them behind me."

"I guess it's Peter who leaves them open," said Kenneth. "He never remembers anything! He just doesn't care ! "

" You be quiet!" said Peter fiercely. He was a big boy, so Kenneth didn't say any more. Peter looked all round at the

children. "I suppose you'll none of you go into the fields just because Miss Brown has said you're not to ! " he said. "Well I shall if I want to. So there ! "

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And he did! He went into the big buttercup-field the very next morning on his way to school. He walked through the shining golden flowers, and their yellow pollen fell on his black boots and stockings, making them quite yellow.

Now Peter really did mean to shut the gate when he came out of the field, but just as he got there, and went through the gate, he saw a nest in the opposite hedge. He ran across to see what it was, and forgot all about the gate ! Then the school-bell began to ring, and he rushed down the lane at top-speed to

school! The gate was left open, swinging a little in the wind.

A big red cow came up to it. She stared at the open gate for a long time. It was usually open at milking-time. Could it be milking-time ? Well, she would go and see. So out into the lane she went, swinging her long tail.

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The other cows saw her go, and they stood staring after her. What! The gate was open, and Daisy was going out of it! They must certainly go, too ! So out they all wandered down the lane—and there the farmer met them on his way round his farm. How angry he was !

" One of those children has left my gate open again! " he growled to himself, as he headed the cows back to the field. "Fm tired of wasting my time taking cows and sheep back to fields. Fm just going straight along to the school and I’ll find that disobedient child, or my name isn't William Straw!"

So off to the school he went, and walked into the school-room. How astonished the children were !

"Good-morning, Miss Brown," said the farmer, taking off his hat. "One of these children of yours has disobeyed orders. Somebody has been through the big buttercup-field and left the gate open. Now then, children, which of you was it ?"

Nobody answered a word. Peter was much too frightened to own up. The farmer frowned. "Well," he said, "I can easily find out which one it was. Miss Brown, will you tell your children to stand up in a line in front of me ? "

So the children were stood out in front of the angry farmer, and he looked at them all, but not at their faces ! Dear me, no ! He looked at their legs! And he saw the yellow buttercup-pollen all over Peter's boots and stockings!

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"You, boy!" he said, in a stern voice. "You! You went through my field this morning and left the gate open ! Miss Brown, send a note home to his father, and tell him to punish this disobedient boy."

"I will," said Miss Brown, and she wrote the note at once. How Peter shivered in his shoes when he knew he had to take it home!

" Please, sir, who told you it was Peter who went through the field?" asked William, puzzled. "None of us saw him."

" My boy, the buttercups told me ! " said the farmer, and went out of the schoolroom. The children were puzzled—and then Doris gave a squeal.

" Of course ! Peter's legs are all covered with yellow powder from the buttercups—and our legs are not ! Oh, Peter-—the buttercups gave you away ! "

Well, well—who would have thought of such a thing ? Poor Peter—I don't think he'll be disobedient again, do you ?

ONCE upon a time Ho-Ho the Goblin went along by the fields to catch the bus that went to the market. He walked by

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the stream, and sang as he walked, for it was a very pleasant day.

Ho-Ho was going to buy some cows for his master. He was to bring them home that evening. He had cut himself a big stick from the hedge, and with this he meant to drive the cows home. Ah, Ho-Ho felt very important to-day! He stood still for a moment and looked at the bubbling stream.

"The cows shall drink out of this stream," he said. "They will be thirsty, walking all the way home this hot day."

Now, as Ho-Ho stood watching the sparkling water, he heard the sound of someone whistling, and he turned round to see who was coming. He saw Twisty the gnome coming along swinging a big stick as he went.

"Good morning, Twisty! " called Ho-Ho. "Where are you going?"

" I am going to the market to buy my master some sheep," said Twisty, "and this is the stick I have cut to drive them home! "

"Now that is a funny thing" cried Ho-Ho. "I am going to the market to buy my master some good cows that will be sold there to-day. And I have cut this stick to drive them home ! We will catch the bus together, buy our animals together, and come home together ! "

"Yes,"said Twisty. "And my master said to me 'Twisty/he said, ' see that you give the sheep a drink on the way home, for they will be very thirsty walking so far on the dusty roads' And when I saw this stream I thought to myself that this would be where they drank."

"No," said Ho-Ho at once. "They cannot drink here, Twisty."

" And why not ?" asked Twisty.

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"Because my cows will drink here to-night," said Ho-Ho. "And they will be very thirsty indeed, and will drink so much that there will be none left for your sheep."

"Then you must take your cows somewhere else to drink," said Twisty. "For certainly my sheep will drink here ! I will not have your cows drinking from this stream, for, if they do, there will not be enough water for my sheep ! "

"I tell you your sheep shall not drink here ! " shouted Ho-Ho.

" And I tell you that your cows shall not drink here ! " Twisty shouted back.

Ho-Ho banged his stick on the ground, and the dust flew up. " If you bring your sheep to this field, and let them drink from this stream, I shall drive them away," he said.

Twisty hammered his stick on the ground, and the dust flew up in such a cloud that Ho-Ho began to choke. "I tell you,

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Ho-Ho, if you bring your cows here to-night I shall push them all into the water! " shouted Twisty.

"Indeed you will not!" yelled Ho-Ho. "If you do, I shall hit you with my stick—like that! "

With that he struck Twisty with his stick, and the gnome howled with pain. He lifted his own stick and hit out at Ho-Ho. He knocked his hat off, and it fell into the water.

"There goes my best hat! " groaned Ho-Ho, and he stamped on the ground in rage. He poked Twisty hard with his stick, and the gnome overbalanced and fell splash into the stream!

He sat up in the water and shook his fist at Ho-Ho, who was standing on the bank laughing loudly. Out of the water jumped Twisty, shook himself like a dog, and jumped at Ho-Ho. Over and over on the grass they rolled, and at last down the bank of the stream they went together, splish-splash, into the water. How they choked and spluttered as they lay in the water, trying to get out!

" I've swallowed a fish ! " said Twisty."I’ve swallowed two!" said Ho-Ho. "And see how wet I

am !”" So am I," said Twisty. " Let us get out and dry our

clothes before we go to market. It will never do to go to market dripping wet."

So they climbed out of the stream and sat on the grass in the sun. They took off their coats and hung them on a tree nearby to dry.

And, as they sat there, drying, they heard on the road not far off the rumble-rumble-rumble of the bus. It was on its way to market, the only bus of the morning!

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" The bus ! The bus ! " shouted Twisty, and he jumped to his feet. " Come, quickly, Ho-Ho, or we shall lose it."

They tore off over the field and came to the gate as the bus passed. It stopped when the driver saw them, and the two ran to it; but even as they took hold of the rail to pull themselves into the bus they remembered something.

Their coats! They had left them drying on the tree—and in the pockets of their coats was the money their masters had given them to buy the cows and the sheep! They could not go to market to buy without money.

"Wait a moment for us," begged Twisty. "We have left our coats in the field."

The gnome and the goblin raced over the field and took down their wet coats. They turned to go back to the waiting bus, and Twisty said:

" Well now, just you remember, Ho-Ho—on no account are you to bring your cows here to-night to drink from my sheeps' stream!"

"What do you mean!" shouted Ho-Ho. "I told you I had

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chosen it for my cows, and that you were not to bring your sheep!" Just as they stood glaring at one another they heard a rumble-rumble-rumble—and the bus had gone on down the lane! It would not wait any longer, for it was already late. It had gone, and the two quarrellers were left behind.

They stared at the rumbling bus in dismay. It climbed the hill and went over the top. They could not get to market that morning.

"I shall have no cows to bring to the stream to drink," said Ho-Ho, in a small voice, " and my master will be very angry with me.

"And I shall have no sheep to bring to the stream to drink," said Twisty, " and my master will be so angry with me that I shall have no dinner and no supper."

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"Why did we quarrel?" said Ho-Ho. "The stream is big enough to give water to all the sheep and cows in the market!"

"We were selfish!" cried Twisty. "We each wanted the whole stream for our animals—and now we have no animals to bring to the stream. It serves us right. Good-bye, Ho-Ho. I am going to tell my master that I have missed the bus."

"Good-bye," said Ho-Ho. "I must go back to the farm, too. Next time we meet, Twisty, we will be more sensible."

But I don't somehow think they will—do you ?

Can You do this Riddle?

I fly at night;Change my head and I will go on yours ; Alter my middle and I am certainly not cold; Now change my tail and hear me grunt; Change my head

and let me bark at you; Change my middle and you'll want a spade, Change my tail and I am half your dinner; Change my middle and I become a boy; Change my head and I am three-quarters of a band; Change my tail and double it, and my first will hit my

last!

Answer on page 118

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Goofy's Shining Shilling

ONCE Goofy went to be an errand-boy for two days at the baker's. He liked it very much, because the cakes and buns smelt so lovely.

But the baker didn't like Goofy as much as Goofy liked the buns.

" Will you stop picking the currants out of the buns, Goofy ? " he shouted half-a-dozen times.

"I’m only taking the top ones," said Goofy, looking quite hurt.

" And please understand, Goofy, that you are only allowed to eat the broken biscuits for your lunch, not the whole ones." said the baker crossly. "You ate two whole ones. I saw you."

"All right, Mister," said Goofy sadly. But then he had a

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wonderful idea. He dropped the tin of biscuits on the floor— and then he went to pick up the biscuits. Of course the fall had broken quite a lot of them—and Goofy put them on one side for his lunch.

" Goofy ! How is it there are so many broken biscuits ?" said the baker in surprise, when he saw the little pile that Goofy had put on the shelf for himself.

" Please, Mister, the tin fell on the ground," said Goofy." Did you drop it ? " asked the baker."Yes, Mister," said Goofy." You careless, clumsy fellow ! " cried the baker, and

lifted up his hand to slap Goofy. But Goofy spoke up at once."I'm not clumsy, Fm not careless, Mister. I dropped the

tin on purpose, of course ! "" Oh, you bad boy! " cried the baker, and gave the

surprised Goofy a good slap. "You will go to-morrow. I won't have you in my shop."

Goofy was surprised. He hadn't been careless. He hadn't been clumsy. It was too bad.

"All right, Mister," he said. "But please will you pay me?"

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"I’ll pay you to-morrow," said the baker. So the next day he took a silver shilling from the till and gave it to Goofy. But Goofy didn't want it.

"I want some pennies," he said. "I don't like this little silver thing. I want some big round pennies."

"Goofy, don't be silly," said the baker. "There are twelve pennies in this shilling. Twelve! That's a lot. I haven't any pennies this morning or I would give you twelve, though they would be heavy to carry. But I tell you this shilling is just the same—because in every shilling there are twelve pennies. And in sixpence there are six pennies. Now take the money and go. I'm tired of you."

So Goofy took the shilling and went. He kept looking and looking at the shilling and wondering how in the world there could be twelve pennies in it.

Soon he came to the sweet-shop. In the window there were

some boiled sweets. Goofy looked and looked at them. He loved boiled sweets.

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"I would like to spend a penny on some," he thought. "But I have only this shilling. What am I to do ? How am I to get a penny out of this silly shilling ? The baker says there are twelve pennies in a shilling, but I don't know how to get even one out of it."

He went home. He put the shilling on the table and looked at it.

He sat down and thought hard."I know that a big duckling comes out of a small egg," he

said to himself. " And that is a very strange thing. And I know that a tall bean-plant comes from a small bean. And that is a strange and magic thing too. So it is quite likely that twelve pennies can come from a small silver shilling."

He sat and thought a little more. Then he fetched the chopper from the wood-shed.

"It seems to me that the only way to get the pennies out of that shilling is to chop it in half and see the pennies tumble out," said Goofy. "That is a very good idea of mine."

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He lifted up the chopper and brought it down on the table. BANG!

The shilling hopped high into the air and jingled into a corner. The table fell over, chopped in half! Goofy stared at it in horror.

" Goodness ! I didn't mean to do that! I only meant to chop the shilling! But the shilling didn't chop and the table did. Oh my—oh my—my mother will be very cross with me!"

He found the shilling and took it outside in the yard. He put it on the chopping-block, and then brought the chopper down hard on it, right in the very, very middle.

And, hey presto, the shilling shot into two halves, leapt high into the air, and disappeared into the wood-pile.

"Well, I chopped it in half," said Goofy, pleased. "Now I'll look for the pennies. They must have fallen out of it somewhere in the yard."

So he hunted for the twelve pennies. He hunted and he hunted. He hunted in this corner and he hunted in that. He looked under the dust-bin and he looked under the shed. He looked simply everywhere — but he couldn't find one single brown penny at all.

When his mother came home she found Goofy in tears. "I chopped my silver shilling in half to find the twelve pennies that the baker said were in it, but I can't even find one, and now the shilling has gone too," wept Goofy.

" And who chopped my table in half, I should like to know ?" asked his mother crossly. "Were you looking for pennies inside the kitchen table too, Goofy ? You are a bad boy. Just go upstairs and put yourself to bed—and see if you can find any pennies there!"

Poor Goofy ! He won't find any pennies there either, will he!

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A Very Queer Thing

VERY queer thing happened to Katie one day. She put her doll Susie into her pram, covered her up, and set off for a walk.

"You must shut your eyes and go to sleep, Susie," she said. So Susie shut her eyes, and enjoyed the soft bumping of the pram over the road.

Katie came to the wood. It was nice and shady there. Katie wondered if there were any primroses out, so she set her doll's pram beside a birch tree, pulled the rug up round Susie's neck, and set off to see if she could find any shining yellow primroses to take home to her mother.

Now no sooner had Katie gone out of sight than a crowd of little elves came by, chattering and laughing. They stopped in surprise to see the pram. They had never seen one before.

"What is it?" said one, peeping at it. "Is it a kind of carriage ?"

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"It's a sort of bed on wheels ! " cried another. "Look—there is somebody asleep inside it. It's a fairy! "

"No, it isn't," said the first elf. "It isn't alive.""Well, let's make it come alive," said another elf, and she

poked the doll Susie with her wand. And, of course, Susie at once came alive ! She sat up in her pram and smiled round at the elves. "Hallo ! " she said. "What are you? Live dolls?"

"No," said the elves. "Tell us—what is this carriage-thing you are in ? Is it a bed on wheels ? "

"Well, I suppose you might call it that," said Susie, with a laugh. "Its real name is 'pram.'"

"Never heard of it before," said an elf. "Is it comfortable?"

"Oh yes, very," said Susie." Could I try it, just for a minute ? " asked the elf. " I would

so like to."" Of course you can," said Susie, and she scrambled out of

the pram, delighted to find that she could walk and run. The little elf climbed into the pram. The others tucked her up cosily.

" Is it nice ? " they asked." Oh, simply lovely! " said the elf, shutting her bright green

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eyes. " You take that doll for a walk, and let me have a little snooze here. It's such a treat! "

Susie went off with the elves, holding hands and laughing with joy. The elf in the pram fell fast asleep.

And then Katie came back! She had been picking a lovely bunch of primroses, and was very pleased. " It must be time to go home," she thought suddenly. "I shall be late for dinner unless I hurry."

So she ran back to where she had left her doll Susie in the pram. There was the pram under the birch tree, where she had left it. Katie put the primroses on the cover and set off home. She was in such a hurry that she didn't even look to see if her doll was all right.

Well, when the elf in the pram felt that she was moving, she woke up in a hurry. " Good gracious!" she thought " This girl is running off with me! "

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She sat up in the pram, her yellow hair standing out round her head like a mist. Her green eyes shone brightly. Katie stared at her in the greatest astonishment. She stopped wheeling the pram.

"You're not my doll," she said at last. "Oh, where's Susie? And whatever are you ? You're a dear little thing, but how did you get into my doll's pram—and oh, where is Susie ? "

Well, Susie had just that minute come back from her little walk with the elves, and was full of dismay to find that her pram was gone !

" Katie must have come back," she said, crying tears down her pink cheeks. "She's left me behind and taken the elf with her instead. Oh, what shall I do?"

" There she is, look, in the distance ! " cried an elf. " She's stopped. Run quickly and you will catch her up ! Hurry, now, hurry! "

Susie hurried. She ran as fast as her fat little doll-legs would take her. She called out in a high doll-like voice, rather squeaky:

" Katie—oh, Katie ! Wait for me, do ! "Katie turned round. She simply couldn't believe her eyes

when she saw her doll Susie running down the road after her! Susie ran right up to her, and hugged Katie's leg.

" You nearly left me behind," she wept. " You nearly did. Put me in my pram, please. I only went for a walk with the elves."

The elf in the pram threw back the covers when she heard what Susie was saying. She climbed quickly down the side of the pram, gave Susie a kiss, and fled back to the woods. Katie stared after her. Then she lifted Susie into the pram and tucked her up.

" I can't believe this is true," she said. " I really can't. I find a fairy in my pram—and then you, Susie, come alive and race

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after me! It is all very queer indeed. Now lie down and try to sleep. You must be tired after such an adventure."

So Susie lay down and shut her eyes. Katie ran all the way home to tell her mother. But alas, when she sat Susie up again in her pram, Susie wasn't alive any more ! She was just a dear, pretty doll who opened and shut her eyes, and that was all.

"It must have been a dream then," said Katie, in great dis-appointment. But what do you think! When she took the bedding out of the pram, she found a tiny little pink shoe !

"It must have been the fairy's ! " cried Katie, in delight. "It's not Susie's. So it was true, after all! Well, aren't I lucky— I must be the only girl in the world with a real fairy's shoe ! I shall put it on the nursery mantelpiece for everyone to see."

So she did—and it's there still. You'll see it if you go to visit Katie.

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A Quarrel in the Morning

ONE early morning, just as the sun was getting up, a long, fat worm wriggled over the grass to his hole. He had been out all night long, enjoying himself, and now he was tired and wanted to rest in the little round room at the end of his hole. Suddenly he heard the tippitty-tip noise of bird-feet on the grass. He wriggled even more quickly, for he knew that it was time for the early birds to be about! Then he heard the hoppitty-hop noise of a frog jumping, and he felt about for the edge of his hole.

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"That's a frog leaping along! " thought the worm in a fright. " Oh dear, where's my hole gone to ? I know it's somewhere about here! "

Then, there came the noise of scurrying feet, and the worm listened in alarm. "A hedgehog! A prickly hedgehog! My goodness me, what a lot of my enemies are about this morning ! "

He felt a tug at his tail. That was the blackbird! He felt a nip at his waist. That was the hedgehog! He felt a sticky tongue at his head. That was the frog!

" Leave me alone, leave me alone ! "cried the worm. But the blackbird, the hedgehog, and the frog took no notice of him at all. They all glared at one another.

" This is my worm!" whistled the blackbird through his bright orange beak.

"Pardon me—mine, you mean!" croaked the frog, his eyes nearly starting out of his head with rage.

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"My dear friends, you are both making a big mistake," said the hedgehog, bristling all over. "I smelt this worm first, long before either of you did."

" Ah, but I saw him ! " cried the frog."I spied him from the topmost branch of that tree," said the

blackbird angrily. " He was wriggling along fast trying to find his hole. I flew down at once. He is my breakfast, so go away and leave him to me."

" I am going to make my breakfast off him," said the frog, and he flicked out his long, sticky tongue. It was fastened to the front of his mouth, instead of to the back, so he could flick it out quite a long way. The worm was nearly lifted into the frog's wide mouth. He would have disappeared down the frog's throat if the hedgehog hadn't knocked him aside with his nose.

" I shall eat him," said the hedgehog, and he ran at the worm with his sharp muzzle. But the blackbird pecked him so hard that he drew back.

" Do you want to fight me ? " he asked, all his prickles standing

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straight up. "I can tell you, Blackbird, it is no joke to fight a prickly hedgehog like me ! No animal dares to do that! "

" Oh, fiddlesticks to you ! " said the blackbird rudely. " I'm not going to fight you. Fin going to eat my worm. If you try any tricks on me I can easily spread my wings and fly off."

"And then I shall gobble up my worm," said the hedgehog."You two fight and settle it," said the frog hopefully. "I'll

watch and tell you who wins."" Yes, and eat the worm whilst we're fighting," said the

hedgehog scornfully. "We are not quite so stupid as that, thank you."

" Look—here's a mouse," said the frog suddenly. " Let us ask him to be our judge." So they called the tiny mouse, who came over most politely and bowed to all three.

" Listen," said the hedgehog. " We want you to settle some-thing for us. We each think we ought to have that worm. But we can't decide which of us shall eat it. You shall do the judging."

"Well," said the mouse politely, scratching his left ear as he thought hard, " well—it seems to me that it would be a good idea if you all ran a race for the worm. The blackbird mustn't fly. He must hop. The frog can hop too, and the hedgehog can run."

" What shall be the winning-post ? " said the blackbird."The worm's hole is the winning-post," said the mouse. "

Now, all of you go to the wall right over there and wait for me to say ' One, two, three, go !'"

So they all went over to the wall. But when they got there, the hedgehog called loudly to the mouse :

"Hie, Mouse! I can't see the hole! Stick something in it, so that we can see it."

The mouse looked all round for something but could see nothing. The worm spoke to the mouse.

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"May I help you?" he said. "I could, if you liked, stick myself in the hole, and stand up straight with half my body out of the hole, so that I look like a winning-post."

" Good idea," said the mouse. So the worm slid into his hole, and stood half-way out of it, very straight and stiff, for all the world like a little winning-post.

"Can you see now?" shouted the mouse."Yes ! " called back the others."Then, one, two, three, GO ! " shouted the mouse. The

frog leapt high. The blackbird hopped for all he was worth. The hedgehog ran as if he went by clockwork, all his four little legs working together. And they all arrived at the winning-post at exactly the same moment!

" Who's won, who's won ? " cried the frog."All of you," said the mouse. "You, Blackbird, can have

the

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end of the worm; you the head, Frog; and you the middle, Hedgehog. Good-bye! "

He scurried off. The blackbird, the hedgehog, and the frog turned to the worm-hole. But the worm was gone. He no longer stuck out stiff and straight. He had wriggled down to his little room and was coiled up there, laughing to himself.

"Come up, worm! " shouted the frog, in a rage."I want the middle of you! " cried the hedgehog." And I want my share of you too ! " cried the blackbird."Well, I'm sorry," called back the worm, "but I'm afraid I

want the whole of me. Now go away. I'm sleepy."The three looked at one another. " Why didn't we share

him between us when we had the chance?" said the frog. "Well, well—never mind. We'll do that next time we catch him."

But that worm is going to be very careful now—so I don't expect there will be any next time, do you?

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Billy-Bob Has a Horse

DID you ever hear of Billy-Bob and his little sister Belinda ? Well, this is a story about them.

One day mother wanted Billy-Bob to go down to the village and fetch her a loaf of bread. " Get a nice loaf of brown bread for your tea," she said. "Belinda, you can go too."

"I don't want to," said Belinda. "My legs feel tired, and I don't want to get brown bread for my tea. I like white better."

"Well, brown bread makes strong legs that don't get tired," said mother. "You go with Billy-Bob. You haven't been out at all to-day. It will do you good. Take her, Billy-Bob. I'm just going into the kitchen to make some cakes."

Mother went out of the room. Billy-Bob looked at Belinda.

" Come along, Belinda," he said."No, thank you," said Belinda."But you must," said Billy-Bob. "Mother said so. Belinda,

don't be such a baby. Come along and don't keep me waiting.""I'm not a baby, and I'm not keeping you waiting because

you can go without me," said Belinda. "And if you try and make me, I’ll cry and squeal."

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Billy-Bob didn't like Belinda to cry and squeal. He sat and stared at her. He thought she was naughty, and he wondered what to do. It was never any good trying to make Belinda do something she really didn't want to do. She made such a terrible fuss.

Billy-Bob had an idea. He went to the toy-cupboard and felt about for something. Soon he found what he wanted and pulled it out. It was a pair of green leather reins, with little bells at the front and the side.

Billy-Bob shook the reins and the bells made a pretty tinkling sound. Belinda looked up.

"Those are my reins," she said."I know," said Billy-Bob. "Will you lend them to me,

Belinda ? I don't want to go down to the village by myself, so I thought I would ask Susie next door if she would be my horse and gallop down with me."

"She can't gallop very fast," said Belinda." Not as fast as you, I know," said Billy-Bob, shaking the

reins. "But it would be lovely to have a little horse galloping along this afternoon with these reins on. The bells would go tinkle-tinkle, and everyone would stare at the fine galloping horse. If you'll lend me them I'll go and ask Susie to be my galloping horse. It's just the right afternoon for a gallop."

Belinda thought of galloping down the village with bells ringing loudly. She got up.

"I'll be your horse if you like," she said."I thought your legs were so tired," said Billy-Bob. "I'll

ask Susie."" Oh, please let me be a galloping horse! " said Belinda

suddenly wanting to be a horse more than anything else in the world.

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"Well, hurry up then," said Billy-Bob, holding out the reins. "If your legs are very, very tired, you must trot instead of galloping. The bells won't ring so loudly, but that won't matter."

" I'll make the bells ring so loudly that everyone will think it's Father Christmas coming with his reindeer! " said Belinda.

Billy-Bob put the reins over her shoulders. He buckled them on tightly. The bells rang whenever Belinda moved. She liked them.

"Hurry, hurry!" she said. "I'm a very impatient horse! I want to trot, I want to canter, I want to gallop ! "

She stamped her foot on the floor, and Billy-Bob smiled a secret little smile to himself. Belinda would run all the way there and back ! Hurray !

They went out of the garden-door, and down the garden-path. Gallop-a-gallop-a-gallop-a-gallop, went Belinda's small feet. The bells jingled madly, Out into the road they went, and Billy-Bob had to run fast to keep up with Belinda.

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" Good gracious, Belinda, you are a runaway horse ! " he cried. " I can hardly keep up with you! "

Belinda laughed. It was lovely to fly along the frosty road like that, galloping fast. Lovely, lovely, lovely! On they went to the village, and Billy-Bob stopped outside the baker's.

"Now, stand steady, horse," he said. But the horse didn't stand steady! It tossed its head and stamped its feet till Billy-Bob came out again, carrying a loaf of new brown bread.

" Steady there, steady ! " he cried." I'm tossing my mane and whisking my tail! " cried

Belinda " I'm a very impatient horse.""I hope my horse's legs aren't getting tired," said Billy-

Bob."Oh, I've legs that will gallop for miles ! " said Belinda.

"I can jump over walls and fences and ditches with my legs ! ""Well, I don't think we'll try that," said Billy-Bob

laughing. "Now come along—off we go again, fast as the wind ! "

And off they went, galloping down the road, with all the bells jingling out a tune. Everyone turned to look.

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"You've got a good strong horse! " called Mister Jones." You should put that horse in for a race ! " called out the

postman. "It would certainly come in first! "They galloped home. Belinda's cheeks were as red as

apples. Her eyes shone like stars. She panted just like a real horse, and mother stared at her in surprise.

"Why, Belinda, how quick you and Billy-Bob have been! I’ve only just put the cakes into the oven! I thought I should have had them ready for your tea when you came back! "

"Belinda was my horse," said Billy-Bob, shaking the reins. "She galloped all the way there and back. Her legs weren't tired a bit."

" Billy-Bob, you are a clever and kind little boy," said mother, giving him a hug. " Belinda is lucky to have a brother like you. Aren't you, Belinda ? "

" Yes," said Belinda, taking off the reins. " Mother, we brought back the loaf of brown bread. I'm so hungry. Can I sit up at the table and begin my tea now ? "

"Yes," said mother. "The cakes will be ready in a minute. I’ll cut the bread-and-butter."

So she cut a big plateful—and will you believe it, Belinda ate five slices!

" I thought you didn't like brown bread ! " said Billy-Bob, with a giggle.

"Well, I made a mistake," said Belinda, munching hard. "I like brown bread—and I like being a horse—and I like you, Billy-Bob! "

Well—now you'll know how to make jour little brother or sister go out with you when they don't want to ! Wasn't Billy-Bob clever?

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THERE was once a silly little dog who loved to hear himself bark. He had a most annoying bark that went "Yap-yap-yap-yap ! " and he could go on barking like that for an hour or more.

" Now listen," said his master to him. " I have bought you to be a watch-dog for my house, Spot. Watch-dogs only bark when there is anything wrong. But you bark all day and night if you feel like it! What is the use of that ? You are not to bark unless a stranger comes to the house, or unless you hear anything at night that makes you think a robber might be coming."

Spot listened, his head on one side. What, only bark when anything was the matter ? How silly! What a waste of a per-fectly good bark ! He opened his mouth and barked loudly at his master.

" Yap-yap-YAP! "His master smacked him hard, and Spot nearly fell over

in surprise. He decided that he wouldn't bark in the daytime any more, because his master's hand was too hard. But aha ! He would bark at night and wake up the whole household and make them come rushing out of bed. That would be fun !

So that night Spot jumped out of his basket when everyone had gone to bed and began to bark. How he barked !

" Yap-yap-yap ! Yap-yap-yap ! "His master woke up at once. "I wonder what that dog is

barking for ? " he said to his wife. " Do you think there is anyone trying to rob the house ? "

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" You'd better take the bedroom poker and go down and see," said his wife. So he put on his dressing-gown, picked up the big poker, and went downstairs. Spot was still barking. He was pleased to see that he had waked his master and made him come downstairs. It made him feel very important indeed.

The man went all round the house to see if any of the doors or windows had been forced by a robber. But everything was safe. He looked at Spot, who stood there wagging his tail.

" Well, you may have heard a noise and frightened a robber away," he said. "But there is nothing to be seen or heard now. Lie down and be quiet."

The next night the master was away. Only the mistress, the two children, and the maid were in the house. Spot thought it would be fun to wake up the whole lot. So at three o'clock in the morning he jumped out of his basket and began to bark so loudly that he really almost barked his head off!

" YAP-YAP-YAP-YAP ! "Everyone woke up with a dreadful jump. " Burglars ! "

said the children in excitement, quite pleased at being awakened.

" Robbers ! " thought their mother.

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u Thieves!" shivered the maid, and pulled the bed-clothes over her head.

Nobody dared to go downstairs and see. There was a tele-phone beside the mother's bed, so she rang up the police and told them she thought there were robbers trying to get into the house. " Our dog is barking like mad," she said.

A big, burly policeman soon arrived and hammered at the door. Then Spot was frightened and crept to his basket. Ooh! Suppose that was a real robber! How dreadful that would be!

The policeman was not pleased at being called in when there was no robber to catch. He soon went back again, and everyone snuggled down in bed to try and go to sleep. But they had been very excited, and nobody slept a wink all night. When the master of the house came back, he was surprised to see everyone so pale and sleepy.

" You don't mean to tell me that that silly dog barked in the night all for nothing?" said the master. "Well, he deserves a smacking."

Spot crept under the sofa. He thought perhaps it would be better not to rouse the household again that night, in case he did get a smacking. So when the night came and everyone went to bed, he snuggled down into his basket, put his nose between his paws and fell fast asleep.

And that night a robber really did come! Yes—he came creeping up the garden path to see if there was a window left open downstairs so that he might get in. And there was!

The robber pushed open the window quietly, and then climbed in. He switched on his torch to see if there was any-thing valuable that he could take away with him.

Spot awoke. He heard the torch being switched on in the

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dining-room. He heard the soft shuffle of the burglar's feet. He knew there really was a robber in the house !

He leapt out of his basket. He yapped and barked, growled and yelped, until all the household were wide awake. But did anyone come down to see what was the matter? No, nobody!

"There's that silly dog barking again," said the master, putting his head back on the pillow. "Barking for nothing as usual! Well, if he thinks I'm going to go down and wander round the house again just to please him, he's wrong. I'm going to sleep ! "

"That stupid Spot!" said the children sleepily. " Alwavs pretending there are robbers at night! " And off they went to sleep again.

" That dreadful dog! " said the maid, and pulled the bed-clothes right over her head. "Does he think we are going to go down night after night to look for thieves that are not there ?"

The burglar heard Spot barking, and stood quite still to listen, for he was afraid that someone might come downstairs

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and find him. But nobody came at all. So the robber was able to take quite a lot of valuable things and put them into his sack. He slipped out of the window and was away down the path as quietly as could be.

And what a commotion there was in the morning when everyone found that there really had been a robber in the night!

" My beautiful cigarette-box has gone ! " said the master."And my silver teapot! " said his wife."And the silver cups we won at tennis!" wept the

children."Well, Spot did bark," said the maid."What's the good of a dog who barks when there is

nothing to bark at, as well as when there is?" said the master in disgust. "He's no use at all. He yaps that there are robbers here when there is not—so of course when he barks to tell us that one really is here, we don't believe him. He is a bad, silly dog, I won't keep him a day longer ! "

So silly Spot had to leave his nice comfortable home and go to live with a deaf old lady who didn't mind if he barked all day or not, because she couldn't hear him at all! But, really, it served him right, didn't it, for being so very, very silly!

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