prompt to answer with sticks and stones.

No one was happy in the little household, and faces were sober and
voices hushed as they went about their tasks, until one day Aunt Miriam
called Ezra and whispered in his ear. His eyes opened wide and his face
brightened, and for more than a week he neglected his friends, the
shepherds, and spent all his spare time at the khan.

Then, one afternoon, when the rain had ceased and the little olive
leaves glistened in the cold bright light, Naomi's mother approached the
forlorn little figure crouched in a corner and raised her to her feet.

"Here is thy warm cloak, beloved," said she, coaxingly, laying her hand
on the soft brown curls that seemed to hang limply now that Naomi never
tossed them back with a proud little shake of the head. "Before the door
stand thy aunt, thy father, and thy brother. They wait for thee. And,
little Naomi, there waits a surprise for thee also. Come and listen by
the doorway."

From behind the door Naomi heard an unfamiliar stamping, a running
about, and Ezra's excited voice.

"Be careful, Jonas," called Ezra sharply. "Wilt thou be stepped on?
Stand from under. Naomi, where art thou? Mother! Oh, she comes! Aunt
Miriam, Father, she comes!"

Naomi's mother led out the white-faced little girl and Samuel took her
gently by the hand.

"A gift for thee, little Naomi," said he, smiling more happily than in
many a long day, "from thy good Aunt Miriam. Put out thy hand and
guess."

Naomi stretched out a timid hand and touched a soft furry nose.

"A donkey!" said Naomi. "To take me for a ride!"

"Aye," burst out Ezra, his face shining with unselfish joy; "to take
thee for a ride every day and everywhere. Up and down the hills and
roundabout. We shall go everywhere together, thou and I."

"Speak more plainly, Ezra," said Aunt Miriam, seeing the puzzled look
upon his sister's face. "The donkey is thine, Naomi. Thy Uncle Simon and
I have given it to thee. Ezra means that he will take thee riding upon
it whenever and wherever thou wilt. No longer shalt thou lurk in the
house with white cheeks from sunrise to sunrise. We shall have thee as
rosy as a poppy again ere long."

And her tender-hearted aunt first wiped her brimming eyes upon the
corner of her veil, and then caught back Jonas by his leather pinafore
from under the donkey's heels, where he seemed determined to meet with a
speedy death.

"Now the trick!" cried Ezra, who had been hopping from fo