BABY BY GEORGE MACDONALD Where did you come from, baby dear? Where did you get your eyes so blue? What makes the light in them sparkle and spin? Some of the starry twinkles left in. Where did you get that little tear? I found it waiting when I got here. What makes your forehead so smooth and high? A soft hand stroked it as I went by. What makes your cheek like a warm white rose? I saw something better than any one knows. Whence that three-cornered smile of bliss? Three angels gave me at once a kiss. Where did you get that pearly ear? Where did you get those arms and hands? Feet, whence did you come, you darling things? How did they all just come to be you? But how did you come to us, you dear? THE BEAR WHO PLAYED SOLDIERS BY HANS CHRISTIAN ANDERSEN In the parlor of an inn in a little country town, sat a man who was eating his supper. The man owned a dancing bear that he led about from town to town. The bear was tied up outside behind the woodpile. Poor bear! he would not hurt any one, though he looked so fierce. Up in the garret three little children were playing. The oldest was about six, the young est not more than two. Tramp! tramp! somebody was coming upstairs. Who could it be? The door was pushed open. It was the bear— the great shaggy bear. He had grown tired of waiting down in the yard, and had found his way up-stairs.. The children were very much frightened at first by the great shaggy beast. They crept into the corners of the room but the bear found them all. He smelled at them, but he did not hurt them. "This must be a big dog," they said and began to pat him. Then he lay down upon the floor and the youngest child climbed upon the bear's back and hid his curly head in the beast's shaggy fur. The oldest boy took his drum and began to beat it, rub-a-dub-dub! rub-a-dub-dub! The bear rose up on his hind legs and began to dance. What fun! |