FREE BOOKS

Author's List




PREV.   NEXT  
|<   58   59   60   61   62   63   64   65   66   67   68   69   70   71   72   73   74   75   76   77   78   79   80   81   82  
83   84   85   86   87   88   89   90   91   92   93   94   95   96   97   98   99   100   101   102   103   104   105   106   107   >>   >|  
s a little meadow for pasture, and a grove of little trees; and there was also a small field of sweet marjoram, where the blossoms were so tiny that you could hardly have seen them without a magnifying glass. It was not very far from this cottage to the sweet marjoram country, and the fairy sisters had no trouble at all in running down there whenever they felt like it, but none of the people had ever seen this little home. They had looked for it, but could not find it, and the fairies would never take any of them to it. They said it was no place for human beings. Even the smallest boy, if he were to trip his toe, might fall against their house and knock it over; and as to any of them coming into the fairy grounds, that would be impossible, for there was no spot large enough for even a common-sized baby to creep about in. On Sweet Marjoram Day the fairies never failed to come. Every year they taught the people new games, and all sorts of new ways of having fun. People would never have even thought of having such good times if it had not been for these fairies. One delightful afternoon, about a month before Sweet Marjoram Day, Corette, who was a little girl just old enough, and not a day too old (which is exactly the age all little girls ought to be), was talking about the fairy cottage to some of her companions. "We never can see it," said Corette, sorrowfully. "No," said one of the other girls, "we are too big. If we were little enough, we might go." "Are you sure the sisters would be glad to see us, then?" asked Corette. "Yes, I heard them say so. But it doesn't matter at all, as we are not little enough." "No," said Corette, and she went off to take a walk by herself. She had not walked far before she reached a small house which stood by the sea-shore. This house belonged to a Reformed Pirate who lived there all by himself. He had entirely given up a sea-faring life so as to avoid all temptation, and he employed his time in the mildest pursuits he could think of. When Corette came to his house, she saw him sitting in an easy-chair in front of his door near the edge of a small bluff which overhung the sea, busily engaged in knitting a tidy. When he saw Corette, he greeted her kindly, and put aside his knitting, which he was very glad to do, for he hated knitting tidies, though he thought it was his duty to make them. "Well, my little maid," he said, in a sort of a muffled voice, which sounde
PREV.   NEXT  
|<   58   59   60   61   62   63   64   65   66   67   68   69   70   71   72   73   74   75   76   77   78   79   80   81   82  
83   84   85   86   87   88   89   90   91   92   93   94   95   96   97   98   99   100   101   102   103   104   105   106   107   >>   >|  



Top keywords:

Corette

 

fairies

 

knitting

 
thought
 
Marjoram
 

cottage

 
marjoram
 

sisters

 

people

 

matter


tidies
 

walked

 

reached

 

sounde

 

muffled

 
engaged
 

busily

 

mildest

 

pursuits

 
sitting

overhung

 
employed
 

temptation

 

Reformed

 

Pirate

 

belonged

 

greeted

 
faring
 

kindly

 

looked


beings

 

smallest

 

blossoms

 

meadow

 

pasture

 

country

 

trouble

 

running

 

magnifying

 

coming


afternoon

 

delightful

 

companions

 

sorrowfully

 

talking

 

common

 
grounds
 

impossible

 

failed

 

People