o play as well as the children, and
perhaps a little better. Sometimes the brooks ran first and the children
followed. Sometimes the children ran first and the brooks followed. Of
course, if any animal came near that would hurt the children, the brook
or river in whose care they were left flowed quickly around them, so
that they stood on an island and were safe from all harm.

Two little boys lived in those days who were sons of the king. When the
children were old enough to run about, the king called the rivers and
brooks to come before him. They came gladly, for they felt sure that
something pleasant would happen, and they waited so quietly that no one
would have thought they were so full of frolic.

"I have called you," said the king, "to give you the care of my two
little sons. They like so well to run about that one nurse will not be
enough to care for them, and of course it will be pleasanter for them to
have many playmates. So I felt that it would be better to ask every
river and every brook to see that they are not hurt or lost."

"We shall have the king's sons for our playmates!" whispered the rivers.
"Nothing so pleasant ever happened to us before."

But the king went on, "If you keep my boys safely and well, and follow
them so closely that they are not lost, then I will give you whatever
gift you wish; but if I find that you have forgotten them one moment and
they are lost or hurt, then you will be punished as no river was ever
punished before."

The rivers and even the most frolicsome little brooks were again quiet
for a moment. Then they all cried together, "O king, we will be good.
There were never better nurses than we will be to your sons."

At first all went well, and the playmates had the merriest times that
could be thought of. Then came a day when the sunshine was very warm,
but the boys ran faster and farther than boys had ever run in the world
before, and even the brooks could not keep up with them. The rivers had
never been weary before, but when this warm day came, one river after
another had some reason for being quiet. One complained, "I have
followed the boys farther than any other river." "Perhaps you have,"
said another, "but I have been up and down and round and round till I
have forgotten how it seems to be quiet." Another declared, "I have run
about long enough, and I shall run no more." A little brook said, "If I
were a great river, perhaps I could run farther," and a great river
r