The Anderson intelligencer. [volume] (Anderson Court House, S.C.) 1860-1914, 1889-01-24
Then the children called on me for

Then the children called on me for
story and promised to be right still until
I got through. So I began: One time
there vas man who was condemned to
death by the king, and his head was to
be cut off next day. He asked the king
to let him tell a story before he died and
the king said "yes." So be began his
story and said: Once upon time there
was great cloud ofgrasshoppers that no
man could number, and they darkened
the air so that the sun could not shine
and they eat up every green thing in all
the land, and finally came to a great
barn that had million bushels of corn
in it, and the barn had no doors nor
windows, but there was one little, small
hole in plank that was just large enough
for single grasshopper to get in, and SO
one grasshopper went in and brought out
one grain Of corn, and then another
grasshopper went-.in..s.and:;got another
grain of corn, and another grasshopfer
went in and got another grain of corn.
and another graashopper went in and got
another grain of corn, and another grass
hopper went in and got another grain of
corn, -""Oh, please stop it," said
the children. "Can't you skip some 2"
Oh, no, said I, I must get all that corn
out Of there and another grasshopper
went in and got another grain of corn,
and another grasshopper went in and
got another grain Of corn, and "stop
it; stop it; stop it; you are through /; that
will do; we don't want.to hear.aDy more
of that" said the children. "That is
lust what the king said to the man, but
he held the king to his. s.promise, and the
king had to pardon him to get rid Of the
grasshoppers, for it would have takeu q
hundred years to have emptied the
barn."
And that is the way the Arabian
Nights came to be written. The king
was in love with a beautiful princess, and
wanted to marry her, but she loved
another young man and refused to marry
the kings son. This made the king very
angry, and he ordered her to be put to
death. She was very smart woman,
and the best story teller in all the king.
dom of Persia, and so she asked the king
to let her tell him one story before sbe
died, and the king said yes-she might
tell him one that night, and she must
die the next day. So she dressed herself
in her most beautiful apparel and went
into the kings parlor and reclined upon
a sofa, and began the story of Alladin
and his wonderful lamp. She told about
half of it, and stopped at very interest.
ing part, and said she was sick and could
tell no more. So tho king gave her
another night to finish it. He became
more interested in her charming manners
and beautiful language, and after she
had finished Alladin, he asked her to
come again the next night, and tell
another. And so she continued night
after night and made up new stories
everyday and told-about Ali baba and
the Forty Thieves and Sinbad, the sailor,
and the huuchback and ever so many
more. Now there was law in Persia
that said if any one was condemned to
death and.was not executed for thousand
DAYS, he or she should have pardon and
90 free. But the king had been 80 inter.
ested he did not keep count and so when
he sent for the princess again she refused
to 20 and sent him word the time vas
out-the thousand days had passed. The
king was very angry at first, but the
laws of the Medes and Persians never
change and so the princess went free and
married the man she loved.
There are two kinds of stories for
children. The improbable or supernatu-
raj are one kind-such as the Arabian
Knights and Old Deccan Days and Hans
Anderson and Baran Muncbaurm and
Jules Verne. The other kind are stories
that are probable or possible and are
rather true or might be true-they are
generally founded on fact, there is no
harm in either kind if there is 8 good
moral behind the story-if virtue is re-
warded and vice is punished. I have
been reading the Young Marooners to
again to the children and I enjoyed it
myself more than did years ago when
| it was first published. It has recently
come out in q new dress, and is beauti
fully illustrated, and think it is the
best story book that has been writer
| since Defoe wrote Robinson Crusoe.
am proud of it as southern book. knew
Frank Goulding, the author, and loved
him for he was a lovable man, and
went to school with his brother. The
south has not much literature, but wha'
she has is.irst class and founded on s
pure morality.