THE FARMYARD c.o.c.k AND THE WEATHERc.o.c.k
THERE were once two c.o.c.ks; one of them stood on a dunghill, the other on the roof. Both were conceited, but the question is, Which of the two was the more useful?
A wooden part.i.tion divided the poultry yard from another yard, in which lay a heap of manure sheltering a cuc.u.mber bed. In this bed grew a large cuc.u.mber, which was fully aware that it was a plant that should be reared in a hotbed.
"It is the privilege of birth," said the Cuc.u.mber to itself. "All cannot be born cuc.u.mbers; there must be other kinds as well. The fowls, the ducks, and the cattle in the next yard are all different creatures, and there is the yard c.o.c.k--I can look up to him when he is on the wooden part.i.tion. He is certainly of much greater importance than the weatherc.o.c.k, who is so highly placed, and who can"t even creak, much less crow--besides, he has neither hens nor chickens, and thinks only of himself, and perspires verdigris. But the yard c.o.c.k is something like a c.o.c.k. His gait is like a dance, and his crowing is music, and wherever he goes it is instantly known. What a trumpeter he is! If he would only come in here! Even if he were to eat me up, stalk and all, it would be a pleasant death." So said the Cuc.u.mber.
During the night the weather became very bad; hens, chickens, and even the c.o.c.k himself sought shelter. The wind blew down with a crash the part.i.tion between the two yards, and the tiles came tumbling from the roof, but the weatherc.o.c.k stood firm. He did not even turn round; in fact, he could not, although he was fresh and newly cast. He had been born full grown and did not at all resemble the birds, such as the sparrows and swallows, that fly beneath the vault of heaven. He despised them and looked upon them as little twittering birds that were made only to sing. The pigeons, he admitted, were large and shone in the sun like mother-of-pearl. They somewhat resembled weatherc.o.c.ks, but were fat and stupid and thought only of stuffing themselves with food. "Besides,"
said the weatherc.o.c.k, "they are very tiresome things to converse with."
The birds of pa.s.sage often paid a visit to the weatherc.o.c.k and told him tales of foreign lands, of large flocks pa.s.sing through the air, and of encounters with robbers and birds of prey. These were very interesting when heard for the first time, but the weatherc.o.c.k knew the birds always repeated themselves, and that made it tedious to listen.
"They are tedious, and so is every one else," said he; "there is no one fit to a.s.sociate with. One and all of them are wearisome and stupid. The whole world is worth nothing--it is made up of stupidity."
The weatherc.o.c.k was what is called "lofty," and that quality alone would have made him interesting in the eyes of the Cuc.u.mber, had she known it.
But she had eyes only for the yard c.o.c.k, who had actually made his appearance in her yard; for the violence of the storm had pa.s.sed, but the wind had blown down the wooden palings.
"What do you think of that for crowing?" asked the yard c.o.c.k of his hens and chickens. It was rather rough, and wanted elegance, but they did not say so, as they stepped upon the dunghill while the c.o.c.k strutted about as if he had been a knight. "Garden plant," he cried to the Cuc.u.mber.
She heard the words with deep feeling, for they showed that he understood who she was, and she forgot that he was pecking at her and eating her up--a happy death!
Then the hens came running up, and the chickens followed, for where one runs the rest run also. They clucked and chirped and looked at the c.o.c.k and were proud that they belonged to him. "c.o.c.k-a-doodle-doo!" crowed he; "the chickens in the poultry yard will grow to be large fowls if I make my voice heard in the world."
And the hens and chickens clucked and chirped, and the c.o.c.k told them a great piece of news. "A c.o.c.k can lay an egg," he said. "And what do you think is in that egg? In that egg lies a basilisk. No one can endure the sight of a basilisk. Men know my power, and now you know what I am capable of, also, and what a renowned bird I am." And with this the yard c.o.c.k flapped his wings, erected his comb, and crowed again, till all the hens and chickens trembled; but they were proud that one of their race should be of such renown in the world. They clucked and they chirped so that the weatherc.o.c.k heard it; he had heard it all, but had not stirred.
"It"s all stupid stuff," said a voice within the weatherc.o.c.k. "The yard c.o.c.k does not lay eggs any more than I do, and I am too lazy. I could lay a wind egg if I liked, but the world is not worth a wind egg. And now I don"t intend to sit here any longer."
With that, the weatherc.o.c.k broke off and fell into the yard. He did not kill the yard c.o.c.k, although the hens said he intended to do so.
And what does the moral say? "Better to crow than to be vainglorious and break down at last."
[Ill.u.s.tration]
THE RED SHOES
THERE was once a pretty, delicate little girl, who was so poor that she had to go barefoot in summer and wear coa.r.s.e wooden shoes in winter, which made her little instep quite red.
In the center of the village there lived an old shoemaker"s wife. One day this good woman made, as well as she could, a little pair of shoes out of some strips of old red cloth. The shoes were clumsy enough, to be sure, but they fitted the little girl tolerably well, and anyway the woman"s intention was kind. The little girl"s name was Karen.
On the very day that Karen received the shoes, her mother was to be buried. They were not at all suitable for mourning, but she had no others, so she put them on her little bare feet and followed the poor plain coffin to its last resting place.
Just at that time a large, old-fashioned carriage happened to pa.s.s by, and the old lady who sat in it saw the little girl and pitied her.
"Give me the little girl," she said to the clergyman, "and I will take care of her."
Karen supposed that all this happened because of the red shoes, but the old lady thought them frightful and ordered them to be burned. Karen was then dressed in neat, well-fitting clothes and taught to read and sew.
People told her she was pretty, but the mirror said, "You are much more than pretty--you are beautiful."
It happened not long afterwards that the queen and her little daughter, the princess, traveled through the land. All the people, Karen among the rest, flocked toward the palace and crowded around it, while the little princess, dressed in white, stood at the window for every one to see.
She wore neither a train nor a golden crown, but on her feet were beautiful red morocco shoes, which, it must be admitted, were prettier than those the shoemaker"s wife had given to little Karen. Surely nothing in the world could be compared to those red shoes.
Now that Karen was old enough to be confirmed, she of course had to have a new frock and new shoes. The rich shoemaker in the town took the measure of her little feet in his own house, in a room where stood great gla.s.s cases filled with all sorts of fine shoes and elegant, shining boots. It was a pretty sight, but the old lady could not see well and naturally did not take so much pleasure in it as Karen. Among the shoes were a pair of red ones, just like those worn by the little princess.
Oh, how gay they were! The shoemaker said they had been made for the child of a count, but had not fitted well.
"Are they of polished leather, that they shine so?" asked the old lady.
"Yes, indeed, they do shine," replied Karen. And since they fitted her, they were bought. But the old lady had no idea that they were red, or she would never in the world have allowed Karen to go to confirmation in them, as she now did. Every one, of course, looked at Karen"s shoes; and when she walked up the nave to the chancel it seemed to her that even the antique figures on the monuments, the portraits of clergymen and their wives, with their stiff ruffs and long black robes, were fixing their eyes on her red shoes. Even when the bishop laid his hand upon her head and spoke of her covenant with G.o.d and how she must now begin to be a full-grown Christian, and when the organ pealed forth solemnly and the children"s fresh, sweet voices joined with those of the choir--still Karen thought of nothing but her shoes.
In the afternoon, when the old lady heard every one speak of the red shoes, she said it was very shocking and improper and that, in the future, when Karen went to church it must always be in black shoes, even if they were old.
The next Sunday was Karen"s first Communion day. She looked at her black shoes, and then at her red ones, then again at the black and at the red--and the red ones were put on.
The sun shone very brightly, and Karen and the old lady walked to church through the cornfields, for the road was very dusty.
At the door of the church stood an old soldier, who leaned upon a crutch and had a marvelously long beard that was not white but red. He bowed almost to the ground and asked the old lady if he might dust her shoes.
Karen, in her turn, put out her little foot.
"Oh, look, what smart little dancing pumps!" said the old soldier. "Mind you do not let them slip off when you dance," and he pa.s.sed his hands over them. The old lady gave the soldier a half-penny and went with Karen into the church.
As before, every one saw Karen"s red shoes, and all the carved figures too bent their gaze upon them. When Karen knelt at the chancel she thought only of the shoes; they floated before her eyes, and she forgot to say her prayer or sing her psalm.
At last all the people left the church, and the old lady got into her carriage. As Karen lifted her foot to step in, the old soldier said, "See what pretty dancing shoes!" And Karen, in spite of herself, made a few dancing steps. When she had once begun, her feet went on of themselves; it was as though the shoes had received power over her. She danced round the church corner,--she could not help it,--and the coachman had to run behind and catch her to put her into the carriage.
Still her feet went on dancing, so, that she trod upon the good lady"s toes. It was not until the shoes were taken from her feet that she had rest.
The shoes were put away in a closet, but Karen could not resist going to look at them every now and then.
Soon after this the old lady lay ill in bed, and it was said that she could not recover. She had to be nursed and waited on, and this, of course, was no one"s duty so much as it was Karen"s, as Karen herself well knew. But there happened to be a great ball in the town, and Karen was invited. She looked at the old lady, who was very ill, and she looked at the red shoes. She put them on, for she thought there could not be any sin in that, and of course there was not--but she went next to the ball and began to dance.
Strange to say, when she wanted to move to the right the shoes bore her to the left; and when she wished to dance up the room the shoes persisted in going down the room. Down the stairs they carried her at last, into the street, and out through the town gate. On and on she danced, for dance she must, straight out into the gloomy wood. Up among the trees something glistened. She thought it was the round, red moon, for she saw a face; but no, it was the old soldier with the red beard, who sat and nodded, saying, "See what pretty dancing shoes!"
She was dreadfully frightened and tried to throw away the red shoes, but they clung fast and she could not unclasp them. They seemed to have grown fast to her feet. So dance she must, and dance she did, over field and meadow, in rain and in sunshine, by night and by day--and by night it was by far more dreadful.
She danced out into the open churchyard, but the dead there did not dance; they were at rest and had much better things to do. She would have liked to sit down on the poor man"s grave, where the bitter tansy grew, but for her there was no rest.
[Ill.u.s.tration: She danced past the open church door....]
She danced past the open church door, and there she saw an angel in long white robes and with wings that reached from his shoulders to the earth. His look was stern and grave, and in his hand he held a broad, glittering sword.
"Thou shalt dance," he said, "in thy red shoes, till thou art pale and cold, and till thy body is wasted like a skeleton. Thou shalt dance from door to door, and wherever proud, haughty children dwell thou shalt knock, that, hearing thee, they may take warning. Dance thou shalt--dance on!"
"Mercy!" cried Karen; but she did not hear the answer of the angel, for the shoes carried her past the door and on into the fields.