The morning times., 1896-07-12
THE gs
GRASS-GREEN
p GNOME

NNoPy'b"teus icoo ny D. NdTteT bedTu
"Oh, Greta, what a big, red, ripe straw
berry!' cried Cautious Peter, and Greta
/ pretty child year or SO younger thar
Peter, ran to see what he had found.
why, lis not stra wberry at all - sale
Grcia, as Cautious Peter turned 1t over
aud over in his hands, See! IL is {
little red cap. 1t must belong To some
girls dolly. How strange to find it away
here in the forest"
There was rustling among the straw
berry plants at their feet, us If u iield
mouse was there.
Hold on!' said Peter. There is some
thing in my trap" Peter had set his trap
for other game. He had hoped to cap
ture stoat, but found instead he had
| caught an exceedingly small dwarf, OF
| extraordinary appearance, with grass
! green clothes and complexion, and u very
| long white beard.
"Give me my cap! Give me my cap.'
shrieked the dwarf, in u thin, piping voice.
GIVE me my capri
'Oh, Peter, what is it?'' cried Greta,
clinging TO him in alarm. what can it
! be?''
who and what are you?' asked Cau-
| the child.
Give lie my capt. cried the creature
.Give me my cap.''
''Oh, let's run away as fast ever we
can said Greta. Il am frightened"
NO need to he scared said Cautious
Peter, though il cannot be denied lis voice
trenibed a little. Its caught fe enough
In the trap aud can't get at u.s.
''Oh, ho'' said Peter. Il begin to re-
member what my grandmother used 10
tell me. II what she said is true many
famous bargain has been made with
elves whose red caps have been found
and picked up hy lads like myself
Il wonder If this one is an elf'' soo-
quized Cautious Peter. Perhaps lie is IA
brownie; though from his color / should
call him greene; which, indeed, he mnst
have been To have gone and got caught in
stoat trap
Give me my CAPT. cried the dwarf
"Givc-''
See here. Greenyr' interrupted Peter
ITS all very well for you to keep sing
ing your little song, Give n.e my capl' but l
know a better ONE
Give something Tor nothing till nothing
remains,
And at last you'n get nothing at all
TOR your pains
What do you WANT" asked tile dwarf.
Don't ask for too much. Remember,
II,
about US. our power is limited. III IL WASH I
/ wouldn't be here"
II believe you," said Peter; but now
that yod are here II gong 10 cost you
the fulfilling Of three hundred wishes or
mine TO get away again
''Didn'U l tell you cur power is linn
tea snHekeu TIE dwarf. 1t would take
just thrty-three and a third grass green
gDomes To grant even Il huEuIeu WIS. cs.
no EpSf II ,.l al tn = We n
mortal three wishes, and IT'S a terrible
strain on our nervous system to do that"
Honor bright asked Peter.
IL couldn't tell you anything but tie |
truth il 1 wanted to-" replied the dwarf.
.'In matters of this kind we labor under |
much greater disadvantages than you do. |
If the bargain is not honestly made or kept, |
we find ourselves back again as We were |
before, and have to pay an additional |
price to be released n second time. Now, |
give attention. l shall not tell you this |
twice Gather Il three leaved clover, pull
off a leaf and make a wish A cockatrce
will Immediately appear before you. Tell
him what you want and your wish VIII
be granted, proviucd 1t Is within Tie bounds !
oI nature and the power OF the grass green
gDomes. Do not trouble yourself to open
the trap. / can get away easily enough
if have my cap. All my power is I'D it"
In truth, NO sooner had the dwarf re-
ceivcd his cap than he vanished, and the
Trap was empty.
As Peter walked slowly along TIE forest
path toward the village he tried 10 make
up his mind not what il was best 10 wish
for, but what it was best not TO wish for.
= Becd ,ise," said Cautious Peter to him
self, Il have never yet heard a story Of
persons who had three wishes who did not
wish themselves into some
dotic scrape and have to use up all the
wishes they have left wishing themselves
well out Of it, grandmother used to say:
Choose. wisely. remember Contentment and
health are better than station or power or
wealth. There's no use wasting Il wish
III what one already has, so l won't
oother now about health.
He picked a clover leaf and there tefure
lim he saw CoCkatrice. 1t was flame col
red and had the head. wings and legs
# bird and the tail OF n serpent. Peter
was so much interested in looking at IL
lie forgot to speak.
Il am your first wish; give me name,'
aid the cockatrice.
Bring me contentment for two said
'autious Peter. for he meant 10 share his
,ood fortune with Greta.
"Contentment'" inquired the cockatrice.
1 do not know what it is.''
1T is the Eame of my first wish,'' re-
lied Peter.
III you il.lu WdntCu IL CdrlIodu OF ull-
nonds as large as ostrich eggs, or any
hing in reason" said the cockatrice,
you should have bad it in the twinkling
T all eye. But l will ask the four winds
{ heaven If they have met contentment
n their travels, and if it is within the
over Of the grass green gnones 10 pro-
ure il for you, you shall have it,
Tile cockatrice vanished. He had gone c
} the Cave OF the Winds, where their !
n hnr tbot ipdI N hp h,s
Yas ON the most friendly terms with the = :
rass- green gnomes, and received and well
)med the cuckatriCe. She said she had
much trouble with her four sons, cs-
,cially with the North Wind, she could
Of get out often, but was glad to have
er neighbors call ON her. Hers were :
BOD boys, she said, but, oh, so fun of
limal spirits. She could control them
cry well unless they began waltzing, when
lie could do nothing with them until they
I'd tired themselves out. In answer 10
lie questions of the cocka trice, they one P
I'd all declared that in all their Journey
gs over the face of the earth they had II
,ver seen genuine, unadulterated content |;
ent.
When the cockatrice failed to find it on
e surface of the earth, he sought it in
e depths OF the ocean and among the
balds, who live in the deepest parts of
e earth, but it was not there. and he
as Obliged to return to Cautious Peter
I'd tell him that his wish could not be
anted. 1T is out OF the jurisdiction of
2 grass green gnomes. You must pray
aven for it, said the cockatrice.
4 WILL said Peter, soberly.
Many years afterward, when Peter lay
ION his bed in his cottage. old, helpless,
ne, and blind, there entered in at the
or three cockatrices, who perched in a
slx l.