eplied, "If I were a little brook, of course I could run farther."

So they talked, and the day passed. Night came before they knew it, and
they could not find the boys.

"Where are my sons?" cried the king.

"Indeed, we do not know," answered the brooks and rivers in great fear,
and each one looked at the others.

"You have lost my children," said the king, "and if you do not find
them, you shall be punished. Go and search for them."

"Please help us," the rivers begged of the trees and plants, and
everything that had life began to search for the lost boys. "Perhaps
they are under ground," thought the trees, and they sent their roots
down into the earth. "Perhaps they are in the east," cried one animal,
and he went to the east. "They may be on the mountain," said one plant,
and so it climbed to the very top of the mountain. "They may be in the
village," said another, and so that one crept up close to the homes of
men.

Many years passed. The king was almost broken-hearted, but he knew it
was of no use to search longer, so he called very sadly, "Search no
longer. Let each plant and animal make its home where it is. The little
plant that has crept up the mountain shall live on the mountain top, and
the roots of the trees shall stay under ground. The rivers"--Then the
king stopped, and the rivers trembled. They knew that they would be
punished, but what would the punishment be? The king looked at them. "As
for you, rivers and brooks," he declared, "it was your work to watch my
boys. The plants and trees shall find rest and live happily in their
homes, but you shall ever search for my lost boys, and you shall never
have a home."

So from that day to this the rivers have gone on looking for the lost
children. They never stop, and some of them are so troubled that they
flow first one way and then the other.

HOW THE RAVEN HELPED MEN.

The raven and the eagle were cousins, and they were almost always
friendly, but whenever they talked together about men, they quarreled.

"Men are lazy," declared the eagle. "There is no use in trying to help
them. The more one does for them, the less they do for themselves."

"You fly so high," said the raven, "that you cannot see how hard men
work. I think that we birds, who know so much more than they, ought to
help them."

"They do not work," cried the eagle. "What have they to do, I should
like to know? They walk about on the ground, and their food grows close
by the