Laura Richards
Three Minute Stories

THE FOOLISH TORTOISE
(Adapted)

Close beside the Pool of the Blue Lotus lived the two geese White-Wings and Gray-Back, and in the pool lived the tortoise Shelly-Neck, and the three were good friends. One night Shelly-Neck heard two fishermen talking together beside the pool. “To-morrow morning,” they said, “we will lay our nets and catch that old tortoise and cook him for our dinner.”

Shelly-Neck was much frightened, and when the men were gone he called his friends the geese, and begged them to save him.

“We will save you,” said White-Wings.

“But you must do just what we tell you to do!” said Gray-Back.

“I will! I will!” cried poor Shelly-Neck.

The two geese waddled about, looking till they found a stick. “Now,” said White-Wings, “take this in your mouth and hold on tight!”

“And remember,” said Gray-Back, “that once you have taken hold you must not let go till we bid you.”

The tortoise promised and took hold on the middle of the stick with his strong jaws. Then White-Wings took one end of the stick in his bill and Gray-Back took the other, and they flew high up in the air over the roofs of the houses.

All the people came running to see this strange sight. “Look! look!” cried one. “See the flying tortoise!”

“Ho!” said another, who was one of the fishermen. “He has no wings; soon he will forget and open his mouth, and then down he will come and we shall have him for dinner.”

“I will not let go! You shall not have me for dinner!” cried Shelly-Neck.

Crash! Down he fell on the hard ground. When the fishermen picked him up he was dead and they did have him for dinner.

White-Wings and Gray-Back flew sadly away. “We did our best,” they said; “but a fool cannot be saved from his folly.”

THE GARDEN GATE

 
Early and late, early and late,
Little Boy swings on the garden gate.
 
 
“It isn’t a gate; it’s a motor car!
I’m travelling fast and I’m travelling far.
I toot my horn and I turn my wheel,
And nobody knows how grand I feel!”
 
 
Early and late, early and late,
Little Boy swings on the garden gate.
 
 
“It isn’t a gate; it’s a great big ship!
I’m off to the Pole on a ’sploring trip.
I’ll ride a white bear, holding on by his hair,
And I’ll hurry him up with a whaleskin whip.”
 
 
Early and late, early and late,
Little Boy swings on the garden gate.
 
 
“It isn’t a gate; it’s a big balloon!
I’m going to sail till I reach the moon.
I’ll play with the Man as hard as I can,
And I’ll stir up the stars with a great horn spoon.”
 
 
Early and late, early and late,
Little Boy swings on the garden gate.
 
 
“It isn’t a gate; it’s – ” off runs he,
His mother is calling, “Come in to tea!”
It’s a wonderful gate, but it just isn’t able
To turn itself into a supper-table.
 

LITTLE CAT’S VALENTINE

Great Old Dog was taking a nap before the parlor fire. He lay stretched out on the white bear skin, and reached almost from end to end, for he was a very great old dog indeed. By-and-by he woke up, and saw Little Dog sitting in front of him looking very melancholy.

“What’s the matter, young one?” asked Great Old Dog. “Where’s Little Cat?”

“I don’t know!” said Little Dog dolefully. “We don’t speak to each other any more.”

“Wuff!” said Great Old Dog. “Since when?”

“Since half an hour.”

“Wuff!” said Great Old Dog. “Why?”

“She was horrid to me,” said Little Dog, “about a bone; and – and then I was horrid to her.”

“And you think two wrongs make a right?” said Great Old Dog. “They don’t. That is monkey arithmetic, not fit for respectable dogs and cats. My advice to you is to make it up as soon as you can.”

“But she says she will never speak to me again!” said Little Dog piteously.

Great Old Dog yawned so wide that Little Dog could have got inside his mouth and turned around.

“She will!” he said.

“How do you know, Great Old Dog?”

“Wuff! I know cats.”

“I think she has gone out to see Old Cat in the Barn,” Little Dog continued. “Perhaps she may live out there and never come back.”

“She’ll come back,” said Great Old Dog. “She will miss you just as much as you miss her. Make it up, I tell you! Quarrelling is the silliest thing there is,” and he went to sleep again.

“Oh, dear!” said Little Dog. “I do miss Little Cat dreadfully, and the door is shut. Oh, oh dear!”

Little Girl was sitting at the desk, doing things with gold and silver paper. Little Dog went up to her and asked very prettily to be let out; but Little Girl was not so clever as usual.

“What is the matter, Little Dog?” she asked. “Do you want a valentine?”

“Please let me out!” said Little Dog; but she thought he said “Yap!”

“Listen, Little Dog!” she said. “Will this do?” She took up a frilled sheet with gold hearts on it and read:

 
“‘If your heart is true as mine,
Come and be my valentine.’”
 

“Please let me out!” said Little Dog; but she thought he said “Yap!”

“This is Valentine’s Day, Little Dog,” Little Girl went on. “You ought to send a valentine to Little Cat.

 
“‘If your heart is true as mine,
Come and be my valentine.’
 

Why, Little Dog, you shall be her valentine. Come here, sir!”

Little Girl took a sheet of lace paper, crimped it into a frill, and tucked it into Little Dog’s collar. It tickled him woefully, but he said not a word, for he loved Little Girl almost next to Little Cat.

“You are lovely, Little Dog!” said Little Girl. “You are the best valentine I have made yet. Wait now!” She made a big star of gold paper and pinned it to his collar; then she made two little stars and pasted them on the tips of his ears.

“You are a lovely valentine!” she cried, clapping her hands. “And there is Little Cat mewing to be let in this minute. Now when I open the door, Little Dog, go straight up to her and say:

 
“‘If your heart is true as mine,
Let me be your valentine!’”
 

She opened the door and Little Cat started to come in, but when she saw Little Dog she stopped and looked shy.

Little Dog went up to her and said:

“If your heart is true as mine, Little Cat, I am sorry I was horrid about the bone; let me be your valentine and I want to make up.”

“Oh! Little Dog,” said Little Cat, “I was horrid first, and I was just coming to say I was sorry. Let’s never quarrel again, Little Dog; it is so lonely!”

“Dear little things!” said Little Girl. “They are rubbing noses and telling each other something. Oh, dear! and I was cross to Brother this morning; I’m going to find him this minute and say I am sorry and ask him to be my valentine.”

TO MY VALENTINE

 
Dear, will you be mine,
My little Valentine?
I’ll meet you, and greet you,
And dress you up so fine!
A cooky for your hat,
And a pancake for your coat;
We’ll hollow out a pumpkin shell
And use it for a boat.
Dear, will you be mine,
My little Valentine?
I’ll meet you, and treat you,
And take you out to dine.
We’ll have gold and silver fish
In a gold and silver dish.
We’ll serve them up with diamond sauce
And then how they will shine!
 

MARCH

 
Blow, March, blow!
Go, Winter, go!
Drive away,
Strive away,
Blow, March, blow!
 
 
Blow, March, blow!
Grow, grass, grow!
Crocus-cup,
Twinkle up;
Blow, March, blow!
 
 
Blow, March, blow!
Flow, water, flow!
River, run,
Just for fun,
Blow, March, blow!
 

SOMETHING NEW

 
There’s a new thing at our house:
It’s not a cat; it’s not a mouse;
It’s not a bird; it’s not a dog;
 
 
It’s not a monkey or a frog;
A sweeter thing than any other;
It’s just a little Baby Brother!
 

MR. SPARROW’S BATH

One day Johnny followed Mamma up into the attic, where there are all kinds of pleasant things, and he saw a very pleasant thing indeed. It was a small dish, white with pink roses all over it; really and truly, it was the prettiest dish that ever was. Johnny said, “O-o-oh! may I have that dish for mine?”

Mamma looked, and then she took the dish in her hand and thought a minute. Mamma always likes to be sure about things before she says “Yes!” for fear it might not really be “yes” after all. But now she nodded her head, and said, “Yes, Johnny, you may have it.”

“O-oh!” said Johnny. “For my welly own?”

“For your very own. The rest of the set is broken, and I have just kept this dish because it is so pretty. Now you may take it down into the nursery, and have it for a bath for Flora.”

Flora was a small doll, all china, and her clothes came off, so she could have a bath any time, and Johnny often gave her one. Now he gave her one in the rosy-posy dish, and it was just exactly the right size, and Johnny was so pleased, and said, “Oh, thank you, dear Mamma!” without having to be told. (Sometimes he forgets to say “thank you,” but he is getting to be quite good about it.)

The next time Johnny went down-stairs, he took the doll’s bath to show to Maggie, and she said ’twas the pick of the world for a dish, and asked Johnny to lave her bake a cake in it; but Johnny said no, not now, though perhaps by and by, for now he must take it out to show to Muffy. Muffet was out in the sand-box, and when Johnny showed her the dish she mewed and rubbed against his legs, and seemed to want something very much.

“Maggie,” said Johnny, “Muffy wants something! What do you suppose it is?”

“Sure she might be wanting a sup o’ milk!” said Maggie. “Bring me here the grand dish and we’ll give the crature a sup in itself, and won’t she be the proud kitty!” that is the way Maggie talks; it is a nice, funny way, Johnny thinks.

Well! so Maggie filled the pretty dish with milk, and Johnny set it down in the sand box before Muffet, and she lapped it up, every single drop, purring all the time. Johnny was watching her when Mamma called him in to take his nap. Muffet had not quite finished, so he left the dish standing, and ran in to Mamma, and then he went for his nap. When he woke up it was raining hard, and it rained all the afternoon, so he did not go out again, but stayed in the nursery building a Choo Choo House. The next morning was bright and clear, and the very first thing Johnny thought of, when he had had his bath, and Mamma was dressing him, was the rosy posy dish.

“I wants my diss,” said Johnny, “to give Flora her bath!”

So Mamma looked for the dish, all over the nursery, but it was not to be found.

“Where did you leave it, Johnny Boy?” said Mamma. “Think a minute!”

So Johnny thought a minute, and then he remembered. “I left it in the sand box,” he said. “Muffy was very thirsty, and she was drinking out of it, and you called me, and she hadn’t finished, and so, you see – and so, you see – ”

And Mamma said she saw. Then she looked out of the window, and said yes, there was the dish, right in the sand box, beside the red tin pail and the blue tin pail and the old kitchen spoon. Then she said, “Oh! oh, Johnny, come here and look!”

So Johnny went to the window, and stood on his tippy-toe-toes, and looked; and what do you think he saw? A little brown sparrow had come fluttering down, and was drinking out of the rosy posy dish. (You see, it had rained all night, so the dish was full of water.) He perched on the edge, and dipped his little beak in, and drank and drank; he must have been very thirsty. And then – oh! oh! what did he do but hop down into the dish, and begin taking his bath! He splashed, and he shook himself, and rustled his feathers, and then he splashed again. “Oh!” said Johnny. “Oh! Mamma, he is doing it all himself. Nobody told him to, not one bit.”

“No, indeed!” said Mamma. “He likes to take his bath and be clean, just as Johnny does. He knows it feels good to be clean.”

“Mamma!” said Johnny. “I want to tell you something. Shall we have something else for Flora, and let the rosy posy dish be the sparrow’s bath, his ownty donty?”

“Suppose we do!” said Mamma. And they did.