Story Hour Readers — Book Three

								

The cave was surrounded by fragrant flowers; but into its depths the
children did not dare to go.
Suddenly one of the girls pointed upwards, crying, "There is the old
grandfather!"
The others looked up, and there, standing on a cloud over the top of the
mountain, was the old man.
"Let us go home now," said one of the boys.
On the way, they met two men of the village, whom their parents had sent
to search for them.
When the children had told their story, one of the men exclaimed, "Ah,
happy children! The kind old man is surely Sennin, the wonderful Hermit
of the Mountain!"

FOREIGN CHILDREN

Little Indian, Sioux or Crow,
Little frosty Eskimo,
Little Turk or Japanee,
O! Don't you wish that you were me?
You have seen the scarlet trees
And the lions over seas;
You have eaten ostrich eggs,
And turned the turtles off their legs.
Such a life is very fine,
But it's not so nice as mine;
You must often, as you trod,
Have wearied NOT to be abroad.
You have curious things to eat,
I am fed on proper meat;
You must dwell beyond the foam,
But I am safe and live at home.
Little Turk or Japanee,
O! Don't you wish that you were me?
ROBERT LOUIS STEVENSON

GREAT AND LITTLE BEAR

Callisto was a beautiful woman whom the god Jupiter admired.
The goddess Juno was very angry because Jupiter was kind to Callisto.
She decided to be revenged.
"I will take away her beauty, so that no one shall admire her," said
Juno.
Night and day she thought and planned, until she found a way to punish
Callisto.
One morning as the fair and gentle Callisto was gathering wild flowers
in a field, she was suddenly changed into a bear. Then she was driven
into a forest near by.
"You shall live in this forest forever! A cave under the rocks shall be
your home!" exclaimed Juno.
Although she had the form of a bear, Callisto was still a woman at
heart. She feared all the animals that she met.
The hunting dogs frightened her, and she would hide in terror from the
hunters.
One day a young man was hunting in the forest. Callisto recognized him
at once as her son Arcas.
She rushed toward her son to embrace him, but thinking the bear was
going to attack him, Arcas lifted his hunting spear.
As he was about to strike the bear, Jupiter appeared. The god snatched
away the spear just in time to save Callisto's life.
Jupiter took both Callisto and Arcas, and placed them in the sky.
Callisto became the Great Bear, and Arcas the Little Bear.
They have remained in the sky ever since. On pleasant nights you can see
them in the sky, as they move around the North Star.

THE BOY AND THE SHEEP

"Lazy sheep, pray tell me why
In the pleasant field you lie,
Eating grass and daisies white,
From the morning till the night:

   Everything can something do,

   But what kind of use are you?"
"Nay, my little master, nay,
Do not serve me so, I pray!