deal of fun. They gave up all thoughts of having tea,
and just played and talked together. That was what they called playing
at being men and women, and there was nothing wrong in it for they
were only playing. Each one thought, however, of what the money pig
might think; and the money pig thought of his own riches and of making
his will. This seemed to him a long way farther on.

When might it come to pass? Certainly far sooner than was expected.

Crack! The money pig fell from the cupboard--fell to the floor and was
broken to pieces. All the money came out. The pennies hopped and
danced about in a comical fashion; the little ones spun around like
tops, and the bigger coins rolled away, particularly one great silver
dollar that wanted to go out into the world. It came out into the
world and so did they all.

And the pieces of the money pig were put into the dustbin. The next
day a new money pig was standing on the cupboard. It had not a penny
in its stomach and so it could not rattle, and in this it was like the
other. And that was a beginning--and with that we will make an end.

THE GIANT'S PLAYTHING

Long ago, giants lived among the lonely mountains. Now there was a
great castle, called Burg Niedeck, that stood on top of the highest
mountain of Alsace, and here the most powerful of the giants lived
with his wife and family. He had one child, named Freda.

Freda was as tall as a church steeple. She was a curious child, and
very fond of prying about and looking at things which she had been
told to leave alone. She was allowed to roam all about the mountains,
and to play in the woods and forest, but she was not allowed to go
down into the valley where the little people lived.

These little peasants tilled the ground, and planted corn and wheat
and barley, and pruned their vines, and dug ditches, things the giants
could not do. And the giants lived by taking what the little people
raised. Now, it was said that the first time a peasant found his way
up into Burg Niedeck it would be the end of the giants. But Burg
Niedeck was very high and difficult to reach and no peasant had ever
thought of trying to get there.

One day Freda was playing outside the castle gates in the sunshine.
The valley looked so cool and green and shady that, seeing no one
about, she went down the mountain-side to find out what was below.

Presently she saw, in a field in which she was standing, a peasant
plowing. He had two horses