that he was mounted on a monster crab!

One by one, the lights went out, in the castle windows. The clock struck
ten. Backward went the crab. Eleven! Still the crab went backward. The
clock struck twelve! Then the great doors shut with a clang, and the
castle of fortune was closed for ever to the lazy man.

What became of him and his crab no one knows to this day, and no one
cares. But the industrious man was received by the Fairy of Fortune, and
made happy in the castle as long as he wanted to stay. And ever
afterward she was his friend, helping him not only to happiness for
himself, but also showing him how to help others, wherever he went.

FOOTNOTES:

[33] Adapted from the German of _Der Faule und der Fleissige_, by Robert
Reinick.

DAVID AND GOLIATH[34]

A long time ago, there was a boy named David, who lived in a country in
the Far East. He was good to look upon, for he had fair hair and a ruddy
skin; and he was very strong and brave and modest. He was shepherd-boy
for his father, and all day--often all night--he was out in the fields,
far from home, watching over the sheep. He had to guard them from wild
animals, and lead them to the right pastures, and care for them.

By and by, war broke out between the people of David's country and a
people that lived near at hand; these men were called Philistines, and
the people of David's country were named Israelites. All the strong men
of Israel went up to the battle, to fight for their king. David's three
older brothers went, but he was only a boy, so he was left behind to
care for the sheep.

After the brothers had been gone some time, David's father longed very
much to hear from them, and to know if they were safe; so he sent for
David, from the fields, and said to him, "Take now for thy brothers an
ephah of this parched corn, and these ten loaves, and run to the camp,
where thy brothers are; and carry these ten cheeses to the captain of
their thousand, and see how thy brothers fare, and bring me word again."
(An ephah is about three pecks.)

David rose early in the morning, and left the sheep with a keeper, and
took the corn and the loaves and the cheeses, as his father had
commanded him, and went to the camp of the Israelites.

The camp stood on a mountain on the one side, and the Philistines stood
on a mountain on the other side; and there was a valley between. David
came to the place where the Israelites were, just as the host was going
forth t