Vermont phÅ“nix. [volume] (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1834-1955, 1889-11-08

| ON my old head. bald an gray
Pears right like the gifted crown
| expect TO ar some day.
-Norembcr HuperS.
TLL-LECK AND TJIE FIDDLER.
must tell you, first of all, that the be
ginning Of this story is as different from
that which follows as talking is different
from doing.
One time good st. Nicholas came down
into the world TO see how things looked in
the spring-time.
By-audb by he came to Il cross road, and
whom should he see sitting there but III
luck himself
Now st. Nicholas had pocketful of ha-
eel nuts which he kept cracking and eat
ing as he trudged along the road, and just
| then he came upon one with a worm hole
! in it. When he saw lll-luck, it came into
! his head 10 do a good turn to poor sorrow
| full man.
Good morning, Ill-luck, says he.
Good morning ST. Nicholas, says III
luck
They tell me, says st. Nicholas, that
you can go wherever you choose, even if it
be through key hole now is this 50 .
Yes, says Ill luck 1t is
well, look now says st. Nicholas,
can you 20 into this hazel-nut Z"
Yes, says lll-luck II can do that. "
Il should like 10 see you, says st. Mich
olas. for then should be OF mind to
believe what people say Of you"
We'll, says lll-luck, II have not much
time to be pottering and playing, but 10
oblige an old friend Thereupon he
made himself small aud smaller, aud-phst!
he was in the nut before you could wink.
Then what do You think st. Nicholas
! did In his hand he held little plug of
wood, aud no sooner had III luck entered
the nut than he stuck the plug in the hole,
and there was mans enemy rs tight as
| fly in a bottle.
"So,' says st. Nicholas. That's
piece Of work well done And he tossed
the hazel nut under the roots of an oak
tree near by.
And that is how this story begins
Well, the haze-nut lay and lay and lay,
aud all the time nobody met with lll-luck.
But one day who should come that way but
IA rogue of a fiddler with his fiddle under
his arm. The day was warm aud he was
tired. so he sat under the shade of the oak
tree to rest his legs BY and by he heard
IA shrill little voice piping and crying, Let
me out Let me out Let me out -
The fiddler looked up and down, but he
could see nobody. "Who are you = says
he.
81 am Ill luck Let me out Let me
out :"
Let you out {" says the fiddler, mot I,
If you are bottled up here it is the better
for all Of us" and so saying he tucked his
fiddle under his arm and off he went.
But before he had gone six steps he stop
sort, and he liked more than little to
know all that was to be known about this
or that he Glanced to see or hear. 81 won
der where Ill luck was to he in such tight
place as he seemed TO be caught in, says
he to himself, and back lie came again.
Where are you, lll-luck y says he
Here ! am says Ill luck here in
this hazel nut under the roots of the oak
tree
Thereupon the fiddler laid aside his iid
die and bow and fell to poking and prying
under the roots until he found the nut.
Then he began twisting and turning it in
his fin gers, looking first on one side and
then on the other, and all the while Ill luck
kept crying, Let me out Let me out ~
1t was not long before he found the little
wooden plug He picked and pulled at the
wooden plug until at last out it came, and
-phst pop out came Ill-luck along with
it.
Plague take the fiddler, say l.
Listen - says Ill luck 1T has been
many long day that have been in that
hazel nut, and you are the man that has
let me out. For once in way will do
good turn to body" Herewith, with
out giving the fiddler time to answer, Ill.
luck caught him 10y the belt, and-whiz =
away he flew.
By-and-by he came to a garden, and there
he let the fiddler drop on the soft grass be-
low Then away he flew to attend to 9th
or matters of greater need
When the fiddler had gathered his wits
together and himself to his feet, he saw
away at the end of the garden great
splendid house, built of white marble, with
a fountain in front, and peacocks strutting
on the lawn
Well, the fiddler smoothed down his hair
and brushed his clothes a bit, and off he
went to see what was to be seen at the
grand house at the end of the garden.
He entered the door, and nobody said no
to him. Then he passed through one room
after the other, and each was finer than
the one he left behind Many servants
stood around, but they only bowed and new
er asked whence he came At last he came
to a room where a little old man sat at a
table. The table was spread with feast
that smelt so good that it brought water to
the hddler's eyes, and all the plates were
of pure gold. The little old man sat alone,
but another place was spread as though he
was expecting some one. As the fiddler
came in, the little old man nodded and
smiled Welcome !" he cried "and have
you come at last =
"Yes, says the fiddler, II have, 1t was
lll-luck that brought me"
DO not say that, said the old man.
Sit down to the table and eat, and when
have told you all, you will say it was not
lll-luck but Good luck that brought YOU
The fiddler did as he was hidden. Down
he sat at the table, and fell to with knife
and fork at the good things, as though he
had not had bite to eat for week of
Sundays.
81 am the richest man in the world. "
says the little old man after Il while. But
am alone in the world, and without wife
or child. This morning said to myself
that the first body that came to my house
would take for "A son Tor IA daughter, as the
case might be). You are the first, and 50
you shall live with me as long as live, and
after am gone everything that have shall
be yours
The fiddler did nothing but stare with
open eyes and mouth, as though he would
never shut either again
Well the fiddler lived with the old man
for, maybe, three or four days, as snug and
happy life as ever a mouse passed in a
green cheese As for gold and silver and
Jewels, they were as plenty in that house
as dust in a mill Everything the fiddler
wanted came to his hand. He lived high
and slept soft and warm and never knew
what it was TO want either more or less or
great or small, In all those three or four
days he did nothing but enjoy himself with
might and main.
But by and by he began TO wonder where
all the good things came from. At first the
Old man put him off with short answers,
but the fiddler dinned and drummed and
worried until flesh and blood could stand il
no longer So at last the old man said
that he would show him the treasure house
where all the fine things came from,
He then took a key from behind the door
and led the fiddler out into the garden.
There in corner by the wall was a great
trap, door of iron. The old man fitted the
key TO the lock and turned it, He lifted
the door and then went down steep flight
of stone steps, and the fiddler followed
close at his heels. Down below it was as
light as day, for in the centre of the room
hung a great diamond as big as a black
smiths fist, and il blazed aud sparkled ST
that il dazzed ones eyes To look at IT, la
the floor were set three great basins OF