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3 CHILDREN'S BOOK %
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LIBRARY OF THE V
UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA JfJ
LOS ANGELES ft*
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THE BLACK AUNT.
STORIES AND LEGENDS FOR CHILDREN.
WITH WOOD CUTS AFTER DESIGNS
BY
LEWIS RICHTER.
TRANSLATED FROM THE GERMAN
BY
CHARLES A. DANA.
LEIPZIG
GEORGE WIGAND
1848.
CONTENTS.
The Inkstand Page 1
How two Finches got married ,, r
Little Mary
The Cockerel and the Hens 12
Paper, [nk and Pen ,. 17
Johnny and Maggie 21
The Curious Cockerel 27
The Dear Mother in Heaven ."."
Christmas Eve ,. ~>!)
Little Bee Trunkhosie .. u;
Annie and the Elves ,. 'j'.
The Horse's Footprint .. ."><;
The Christchild : ,. f>2
The Gold Bug 07
The Coffee Pot and Milk Pitcher 72
The Princess Unca ,, H5
Nutcracker and Sugardolly 97
THE INKSTAND.
m
A here lived once a good old lady, whom all the children
called AUNT, and because she had black hair and always
wore a black dress they called her the BLACK AUNT. The
BLACK AUNT loved the children very dearly; and they \vere
much attached to her, for she was always kind to them,
and knew how to play charming plays with them, and to
tell all sorts of stories which the little people were never
tired of hearing. One morning the AUNT woke up early,
it was her birthday morning, - - and saw a beautiful
1
inkstand on the table at her bedside. It was richly painted
and ornamented with variegated flowers and little gold
flourishes so that it was a pleasure only to look at it.
When the AUNT got up she asked every body in the house
who it was that had made her a present of the inkstand.
But not a soul knew anything about it, and all wondered
how it had got to the AUNT'S bedside. Nevertheless the
inkstand was there, and the AUNT was very much pleased
with it, and carried it to her writing desk. Then she put
a chair before the table and leaned her arm upon it with
her head resting on her hand, and a great many thoughts
went through her mind. She thought that now she was
growing old, and might soon die, and then the children
would no longer have their AUNT to play with them and
tell them stories. She remembered too that they would
soon come to wish her happiness on her birthday, and lhat
then they would wish to hear one of her stories, and that
she did not know what one she should tell them. Thy
already knew by heart the story of NAUGHTY CHARLES.
Of GOODNATURED LOTTIE, of DAINTY FflED , of GENTLE
ANNIE, of the BAD CONSEQUENCES OF LAZINESS for they
had read them very often in their picture books.
The good AUNT thought a long while, but she could
not think of any thing new. Then she leaned back in her
armchair and looked thoughtfully at the new inkstand. As
she looked she saw the stopple slowly raised up and
a black little mannikin peeping out, and the variegated
stopple with the little golden button at the top sat like
a hat on his little head.
The mannikin at first looked timidly around and
made all sorts of queer faces; but pretty soon he began
to tell stories about birds and flowers, and about knights
and elves, and while he was speaking the AUNT believed
that she saw all that he was telling about. It seemed
to her as if the flowers were growing up out of the
inkstand , the gold glistened clearer and clearer , the
knights moved past on stately horses, and the elves
danced and sung in the moonshine. The AUNT sat per-
fectly still and looked steadily at the inkstand and at the
black mannikin as she listened to his wonderful narra-
tives. Then a big dronefly came flying into the border
of her night cap, and hung there in the lace and kicked
and buzzed so that the AUNT struck at it and rubbed her
eyes. But the mannikin without being frightened at all.
ducked down into the inkstand, the stopple fell back into
its place and so all these splendors disappeared.
The BLACK AUNT now came near getting actually
black with vexation at the big drone fly which had dis-
turbed her so at the wrong time. But she did not forget
what she ought to do. She wrote down everything that
'
the black niannikin had told her, so that when she was
gone from the earth the children might read the stories,
and remember the old AUNT who used to play with them
and tell them so many things. And after that day she
used to sit a great many hours writing at her desk, and
when all was lonely and still about her, and she could
not think of a new story, if she looked at the wonderful
inkstand, the black mannikin would peep up as if he had
been called, and tell her one. And the stories which
he told are written in this book for you. my dear little
children , to read.
HOW TWO FINCHES GOT MARRIED,
finch once flew into a handsome garden, where there
were a great many pretty flowers, and green trees and
shrubs. There he saw another finch sitting on a pear tree,
and she pleased him so much that he thought he should
like to have her for a wife. And because he admired
her he began to sing: pink, pink, pink, which was as
6
much as to say I love you. She understood it in-
stantly and answered: wpink, pink, pink. At this the
finch was overjoyed, and flew to the pear tree and sat
on a little bough beside her. Then there was such a
chattering and whispering, and they talked it all over,
how they would build a nest and then get married.
They did not once stop to think how they should get a
living, for on the pear tree where they sat there were
caterpillars and insects in abundance. As soon as they
had agreed that the elder bush by the spring in the
corner of the garden was the best place for a nest, one
flew one way and the other, the other, to get bits of
straw and feathers. So the nest was done very soon
and the finches began to sing as loudly and as cleary
as they could. While they were singing so loudly and
sweetly the other birds in the garden heard it and
coming up, asked what was going on, and what made
them so happy. The finches answered that their nest
was ready and that they were going to be married that
very day. The other birds were delighted to hear this
and remained with them and began to sing also, so that
it sounded far and wide and more and more birds came
up, robin red breasts, linnets, nightingales and larks,
green finches and blackbirds and they made an abundance
of music all the day long.
When evening came, every little bird flew back home
and the finches also went into their nest. Then the
glowworms came out of the bushes and hedges and
danced a torch dance to close the festive day, until one
little light after another went out, and the little birds sat
in the darkness and went right to sleep for they were
fatigued.
For a great many days after it was all still in the
finches 1 nest so that you would have thought, they had
gone on a wedding tour as fashionable gentlemen and
ladies do after they get married. But at last a little
peeping was heard in the elder bush ; the finches flew in
and out in search of food for four little young birds
which were stretching and turning themselves in the nest.
The old ones often stayed away a good while and the
little ones would begin to cry with hunger and impa-
tience; but then the wind would stir the elder bush
so that it rocked the nest and the birdies became
still again.
Pretty soon the little ones got out into the sun and
tucked up their feathers and plumed themselves and
thought they already knew enough to get on by them-
selves: and at last the garden was too small for them
and they flew away out of it. At this the old ones were
8
vexed and sorry and when the autumn wind had taken
all the leaves off the elder bush they could not bear it
any longer in the solitude, and flew out also into the
wide world to seek their lost children. Good luck on
the journey to the little birds!
LITTLE MARY.
T"
he father and mother of liltle Mary were dead and a
woman had taken her, who was hard and unkind to her.
She made the child do hard work so that she was faint
and unhappy, and often cried and wished she were with
her father and mother in heaven.
In the winter little Mary often had to go out to the
w T oods to pick up sticks of wood and if she did not bring
enough into the house the bad woman would scold her
very harshly and even strike her. Once when she was
sent out into the woods she went along crying , for
10
though the winter was about over, it was cold and little
Mary's frock was short and full of holes: she had not
had a new one since the death of her parents. When
she got into the forest she w r ent to work industriously,
collecting the dry branches and stooped for them here
and there till her little arms could not hold any more.
Then she started for the house and came to an open
spot in the woods; there she saw a snow drop under a
tree and as she was tired with walking and stooping so
much she sat down by the snow drop and laid her load
down beside her. As she sat there looking at the flower
she said: dear little snow drop what a pretty green
dress you wear and how splendid it makes you look.
You never freeze like me poor child in my ragged dress
and the bad woman will never give me such a beautiful
little white cap as yours.
Saying this she laid her little head down on the
bundle of sticks and began again to weep bitterly till at
last she went to sleep. Then she had a dream and saw
a gentle wind moving the snow drop and listened as it
began softly to ring and tinkle like a bell. The other
snow drops which were still asleep under the ground
heard the ringing and rubbed their eyes open and
stretched their limbs and came out into the daylight and
opening their bells began also to ring softly with silvery
tones so that the wood was full of the strange, sweet
echoes. Hut little Mary did not wake up again from her
beautiful dream but went dreaming to her father and
mother in heaven.
The next day as they went to look for her they
found her dead, surrounded by blooming snow drops
and the snow drops had covered her after her death
with their green leaves.
THE COCKEREL AND THE HENS.
here was once a great farm yard in \vhich there lived
a splendid looking Cockerel with his wives, a whole flock
of hens, black and white, grey and brown, both with
and without crests. They all lived m great peace and
harmony , for every thing went well with them and every
day they got a large pile of barley corns for their food.
Only one thing troubled them , that their eggs were al-
ways taken away and they hardly ever could bring up
a brood of chickens. The hens had often hid their nests,
sometimes in the woodshed, sometimes in the barn, so
that the eggs might not be found, and once they had
actually saved up a mountain of eggs. But the girl who
fed them found their egg mountain and carried it to the
city and sold it.
Indeed it was no more than natural that the eggs
should be found, for as soon as a hen had laid one, she
43
set up such a noisy cackling that it was heard in the
farthest corner of the farm yard and all the hens came
running together to look at the wonder. Some boasted
how white it was, others praised its beautiful shape and
others disputed whether it would hatch a pullet or a
cockerel. About this the hens very often fell into a quarrel
so that at last there was such a chattering and cackling,
that all the servant maid had to do was to go where the
noise was in order to be sure of finding the eggs.
The old Cockerel was troubled at the loss of the
eggs quite as much as the hens, if not more. One day
after he had been walking up and down thinking, in a
corner of the farm yard, he flew upon the edge of the
watering trough, shut his eyes and crowed a loud and
piercing Cock-a-doodle-doo. At this well known call,
the hens came rushing and tumbling from all sides and
formed a clucking assembly around the Cockerel. Then,
although he was much agitated and troubled in his mind,
he made a very strong speech to the meeting and told
the hens that he knew perfectly well how often they had
to mourn over the loss of their eggs, and that after long
reflectipn he could think of no better advice than to leave
the farm yard and go olF into the woods. If they were
willing to do this they should get up early the next day.
A loud clucking announced their assent to this proposi-
u
tion. and all of them wont rather earlier than usual to
roost so that they might get a good sleep before starting.
The next morning the Cockerel waked up his wives with
a sort of low crowing and they started in perfect silence
out of the farm yard. But as the last of the hens left the
yard he flew upon the gate and crowed an exulting
Cock-a-doodle-doo, and then all went on further and
further till they got into the woods. There they made a
great nest in a thicket for their eggs and at night they
15
roosted on the trees. For a while they got on pretty
well, only the hens cackled so loud when they laid their
eggs that once the fox heard it and came stealthily up at
night and carried off a white brood hen from her nest
and smashed the eggs. For the old Cockerel this was a
great affliction and after it the hens went about looking
quite down hearted. And when the autumn wind shook
the leaves from the trees and the hens often had to
scratch all day without finding a kernel of anything to
eat , they went to the Cockerel and begged him to lead
them back to the farm yard. There they said it was
true their eggs were taken away from them, but they
had a warm roost and good food; here in the woods the
fox broke their eggs and ate them up themselves into the
bargain.
16
The Cockerel, who had himself privately begun to
long for the heap of barley corns, agreed at once to go
back, but advised the hens for the future to leave off
cackling so as not always to betray where the eggs were.
But they \vere not disposed to be advised by him. They
said that when they cackled they did it because they
knew they had done a good thing; but that he often set
up his noise without any reason ; at least none of them
had ever seen that he had laid an egg, and so he had
nothing to say about the matter. Then the Cockerel was
ashamed and held his tongue and led his family back to
the farm yard where they fell upon the heap of barley-
corns with a very keen appetite. There they live to
this very day and have the same sort of food, the same
cackling and the same trouble.
PAPER, INK AND PEN.
(Unce-a professor had pa-
per, ink and pen on his
writing table just as all
professors have. A pro-
fessor, my dear children,
is a man to whom grown
people go to school just
as you children do to the
schoolmaster : a man who
has learned a great deal,
so much, in fact, that very
often he cannot tell what he shall do with all the things
he has in his head, and so forgets a great many of them:
a man who has read very many books and writes almost
as many as he has read, for which purpose he has need
of paper, pens and ink.
2
18
Such was the professor, who was now sitting before
his writing table thinking over a new book that he was
going to write. He had his pen already in his hand, but
it was evening, or else he was tired of work; at any rate
his eyes closed and he nodded away fast asleep. Then
he thought he heard a rustling and the paper began to
stir and crackle and at last he heard it say very softly :
I should like to know what the professor would do with-
out me; he could not write anything more, for I am the
main thing in his bo6ks. O you stupid paper -
the ink interrupted quite rudely how can you talk
so? The Mack letters make the book and not the paper.
It is I alone that shine on your vacant face, and that every
body looks at. ((Neither of you know muchw -
here gabbled the pen, seeming still to have something
of the goose in it; it is plain to see that of us three
I am the chief person. Who makes the letters but me?
What fine scrawls we should see if you were to try to
write alone! In this way the pen went on scolding
louder and louder till at last the professor woke up. He
found that in his sleep he had made an immense pot
hook all aver the paper with his pen and had borne on
so hard that the pen was all split up. Besides he had
gone so near to the inkstand that he had knocked it over
and the ink was running from the table upon the pro-
19
fessor's dressing gown and from there upon the floor.
This was very disagreeable to the good man for he did
not like the trouble of cleaning it up. However he was
very much amused at the misfortune which had happen-
ed and wrote his book directly. The purport of the
book was, that if every thing should perform its own
duty the world would go on as well as it possibly could;
and that all by working together might accomplish some-
2*
20
thing great and noble that each by itself could not do
at all.
The book was read a great deal and the paper, pen
and ink seem to have taken its teachings to heart for
whenever since that time the professor has gone to sleep
at his work he has never heard anything like a quarrel-
some word from either of them.
JOHNNY AND MAGGIE.
here was once a fair in a city when a great many
booths were set up on the marketplace and beautiful
things were sold in them, gingerbread and colored glass-
es , handsome clothes and rare shells , shining silver
ware and all sorts of play things. Before one of the
booths where toys were sold . a crowd of children were
collected looking at the handsome sight, The boys won-
dered at the horses with splendid trappings, the glitter-
ing guns and swords: the girls looked longingly on the
bright tin cooking utensils and the finely dressed dolls.
But there were two beautiful dolls , Johnny and Maggie
that stood beside each other on the booth counter and
attracted all eyes. It was impossible to tell which of the
two was the handsomer; whether it was Maggie in the
pink silk dress , the little white apron , the shoes with sil-
ver spangles and the round hat on her little head cover-
22
ed with brown ringlets , or Johnny with the white trow-
sers, the scarlet jacket, the little pointed hat and the
yellow pointed schoes with bells on the toes. While the
children were standing there gazing a gentleman came
up, looked at the toys and finally bought Maggie.
The man in the booth was very polite and asked if
he should send the doll home for the gentleman so that
he would not have to carry it. But he said that he lived
near by in the great house on the corner of the street,
and could -take it himself. Then he took Maggie and
went immediately away. How the children looked after
23
him, they wanted so much to have the doll. But the
gentleman carried it home and gave it to his little daugh-
ter Lizzie. She was delighted with the pretty Maggie
and played all day with her. And when evening came
Lizzie thought the doll must be tired and so she laid her
in a pretty little bed. Now it had got almost dark and
Lizzie was weary with playing so long and she took her
little chair and sat do\vn in the corner beside the warm
tire place the bright flame from which flickered on the
ceiling. As she sat there alone without making any noise,
she thought she heard a rustling as if something was
trying to jump up and reach the door latch. She kept
still and listened , and at last the latch was raised , and
by the light of the fire she saw a gaily dressed little fel-
low come in with white trowsers on, red jacket, pointed
hat, yellow pointed shoes and the little bells at the toes
tinkled gently at every one of the cautjows steps which he
made. In fact it was Johnny from tk<_ booth. He looked
around every where and at last went up to Maggie's bed.
Then he clapped his little hands for joy and said with a
little voice: Ah, dear Maggie, have I found you at
last? If you only knew how long the time has seemed in
the booth without you. Oh I wish the gentleman had
taken me too so that we might not have been parted I
Johnny, my dear Johnny, Maggie softly an-
24
swered, is it really you? Come, sit down on the bed
and tell me how you got here. Then Johnny sat down
on the edge of the bed looked around timidly again, and
told in a low voice how 7 he had heard and noticed that
the gentleman who had bought his dear Maggie lived in
the great house on the corner of the street. Then he
waited very impatiently till evening in order to steal out
of the booth unnoticed when the trader went out and
shut it up. But when the moment arrived , as he was
about to get down from the table he fell and the bells on
his shoes began to tinkle. The trader heard this and
picked him up and put him on the table again . and then
shut up the booth. After that he was very lonely
25
without Maggie, till suddenly he saw the moon shining
through a great knot hole in the side of the booth. Then
he climbed up very quickly to the hole and by good luck
got out at it and made his way into the street. Then
he stole along in the shadow of the booth till he came
to the house and was overjoyed because he found the
right room at once. At this Maggie took Johnny tenderly
by the hand and said: Oh you good Johnny how I wish
that we could always stay with each other !
All this Lizzie hearkened to behind the fire place and as
she sat bent forward so as to see and to hear what was
going on her long hair fell over her face and tickled her
nose and made her sneeze aloud. Johnny was so frighten-
ed at this that he was out of the door at a bound and
when Lizzie came to Maggie's bed she lay there dumb
and speechless as before, and answered not a word to
the questions that Lizzie asked her. The child was sorry
that the doll could not speak and went to her father and
told him the whole storv. But he thought she had fallen
*J tj
asleep behind the fire place and dreamed the whole.
Still Lizzie would have it that every ihing had really
happened, and that if Johnny would only come again,
her doll would certainly speak. Accordingly the next day
Lizzie's father took her with him to the market place in
order to satisfy her by buying Johnny also. But the
26
boolh was gone; the trader had packed up his toys and
gone with them to the fair in some other town.
Lizzie went home in great sadness and told her doll
how Johnny had gone away, but the doll heard nothing
of it , or at least gave no answer and has never spoken
again to this day.
HE CURIOUS COCKEREL
here was once a curious
Cockerel that always stood,
listening and looking to hear and see everything that
took place in the farm yard. When the hens were cackl-
ing privately to each other he would run up and hear-
ken, which was often much against their wishes. Then
they would say to him that he would do well not to
trouble himself about business that did not concern him
and that he ought to be keeping watch that the fox did
not get into the farm yard and crow when a bird of
prey showed himself so that they might hurry and get
the chickens out of the way of harm. But the curious
28
Cockerel paid no attention to the advice of the hens and
often was the loser by not doing so. Once as the farm
yard dog was getting his dinner and the Cockerel ran
up, the dog bit his leg, and once as he went into the
goose pen to count the goose eggs, an old goose got
angry and rushed at him and tore out the handsomest
feathers of his tail. After this, the geese and the hens
made a great deal of fun of him; but for all that he did
not learn to behave any better.
One morning when the door of the hen roost was
opened and he walked out with the hens, he heard a
loud Cock-a-doodle-doo very near by. The curious
Cockerel flew upon the wall of the farm yard to see
where the crowing came from. He saw in the neigh-
bouring farm yard a Cockerel scratching about for some-
thing to eat. Being exceedingly curious he fle\v over to
him and said:
Your servant true!
Your hens, how do they do?
How many eggs do they lay?
And does the hawk carry any away?
And those darlings of my heart,
The Chickens, are they pretty smart?
The other Cockerel at first looked at him in astonish-
ment, but soon grew angry and replied:
29
Mr. Neighbor, that's nothing to you.
What business have you to know how they do?
Come be stirring, clear out of the yard,
Or else I fear you'll fare rather hard.
With this he ran full tilt at the curious Cockerel and
tried to hit him , but he thought it was best to fly upon
the wall again. There he walked up and down in bad
humor , for he was vexed because his neighbor \vould
have nothing at all to do with him and had driven him