of one toy she
brought out another. At last, after some hours, she gave him a beautiful
toy for which she had paid fifteen shillings. It was a sand toy of a
woman sitting at a spinning wheel, and when it was turned up the little
figure began spinning away, and the wheel turned round and round as fast
as if the woman who turned it had been alive. Alfred wanted to see how
it was done, but, instead of going to his mother to ask her if she would
be so good as to explain it to him, he began pulling it to pieces to
look behind it. For some time he was very busy, and he had just
succeeded in opening the large box at the back of the figure when all
the sand that was in it came pouring out upon the floor, and when he
tried to make the little woman spin again, he found she would not do it
any more; she could not, for it was the sand dropping down that had made
her move before.

Now do you know that Alfred was so very silly that he began to be angry
even with the toy, and he said, 'Spin, I say; spin directly,' and then
he shook it very hard, but in vain; the little hands did not move, and
the wheel stood still. So then he was very angry indeed, and, setting up
a loud cry, he threw the toy to the other end of the room. Just at this
very moment the servant opened the door and said that dinner was ready
and that Alfred's cousins were arrived.

'Come, my dear child, you are tired of your toys, I see,' said mamma,
'so come to dinner, darling; it is all ready, under the tree.' So away
they went, leaving the room all strewed with toys, with broken pieces,
and the sand all spilt in a heap upon the floor. When they went under
the dark spreading branches of the fine old cedar tree, there they saw
the table covered with dishes and garnished with flowers; there were
chickens, and ham, and tongue, and lobsters, besides tarts, and
custards, and jellies, and cakes, and cream, and I do not know how many
nice things besides; there was Alfred's high chair at the head of the
table, and he was soon seated in it, as master of the feast, with his
mother sitting by him, his cousins opposite to him, his nurse standing
on the other side, and the two footmen waiting besides. As soon as his
cousins were helped to what they liked best, his mamma said, 'What will
you eat first, Alfred, my love? A wing of a chicken?' 'No,' said Alfred,
pushing it away. 'A slice of ham, darling?' said nurse. 'No,' said
Alfred, in a louder tone. 'A little bit of lobster, my de