DAL

BOTH FRIENDLY LITTLE CRITICS OF MY CHILDREN'S STORIES

_Edinburgh, 1877_

CONTENTS

THE CUCKOO CLOCK

CHAPTER PAGE

I. The Old House 11

II. _Im_patient Griselda 30

III. Obeying Orders 48

IV. The Country of the Nodding Mandarins 70

V. Pictures 95

VI. Rubbed the Wrong Way 120

VII. Butterfly-Land 140

VIII. Master Phil 163

IX. Up and Down the Chimney 184

X. The Other Side of the Moon 209

XI. "Cuckoo, Cuckoo, Good-bye!" 227

THE CASTLE IN THE LOUGH
A Legend of Donegal 247

ILLUSTRATIONS

A Little Girl Danced Into the Room _Frontispiece_

"Have You Got a Cuckoo in a Cage?" 19

She Could Not Help Very Softly Clapping Her Hands 51

"Are You Comfortable?" Inquired the Cuckoo 71

He Flapped His Wings, And Instantly a Palanquin
Appeared at the Foot of the Steps 88

She Peered in with Great Satisfaction 153

"But I May See You Again," Said Phil 177

It Was Rowed by a Little Figure 224

"Now, these little folks, like most girls and boys,
Loved fairy tales even better than toys.

* * * * *

And they knew that in flowers on the spray
Tiny spirits are hidden away,
That frisk at night on the forest green,
When earth is bathed in dewy sheen--
And shining halls of pearl and gem,
The Regions of Fancy--were open to them."

"... just as any little child has been guided towards the true
paradise by its fairy dreams of bliss."--E. A. Abbott.

I

THE OLD HOUSE

[Illustration]

"Somewhat back from the village street
Stands the old-fashioned country seat."

Once upon a time in an old town, in an old street, there stood a very
old house. Such a house as you could hardly find nowadays, however you
searched, for it belonged