o also did the two
Chinese. "We shall never again have such a singing bird among us; he was
almost a Chinese," they whispered, and then they wept with such a noisy,
clucking sound that all the other fowls clucked too. But the ducks went
about with redder eyes afterwards. "We have hearts of our own," they
said; "nobody can deny that."

"Hearts!" repeated the Portuguese. "Indeed you have--almost as tender as
the ducks in Portugal."

"Let us think of getting something to satisfy our hunger," said the
drake; "that's the most important business. If one of our toys is
broken, why, we have plenty more."

[Illustration]

THE SNOW MAN

"IT IS so delightfully cold that it makes my whole body crackle," said
the Snow Man. "This is just the kind of wind to blow life into one. How
that great red thing up there is staring at me!" He meant the sun, which
was just setting. "It shall not make me wink. I shall manage to keep the
pieces."

He had two triangular pieces of tile in his head instead of eyes, and
his mouth, being made of an old broken rake, was therefore furnished
with teeth. He had been brought into existence amid the joyous shouts of
boys, the jingling of sleigh bells, and the slashing of whips.

The sun went down, and the full moon rose, large, round, and clear,
shining in the deep blue.

"There it comes again, from the other side," said the Snow Man, who
supposed the sun was showing itself once more. "Ah, I have cured it of
staring. Now it may hang up there and shine, so that I may see myself.
If I only knew how to manage to move away from this place--I should so
like to move! If I could, I would slide along yonder on the ice, as I
have seen the boys do; but I don't understand how. I don't even know how
to run."

"Away, away!" barked the old yard dog. He was quite hoarse and could not
pronounce "Bow-wow" properly. He had once been an indoor dog and lain by
the fire, and he had been hoarse ever since. "The sun will make you run
some day. I saw it, last winter, make your predecessor run, and his
predecessor before him. Away, away! They all have to go."

"I don't understand you, comrade," said the Snow Man. "Is that thing up
yonder to teach me to run? I saw it running itself, a little while ago,
and now it has come creeping up from the other side."

"You know nothing at all," replied the yard dog. "But then, you've only
lately been patched up. What you see yonder is the moon, and what you
saw befor