The Morris County chronicle. [volume] (Morristown, N.J.) 1877-1915, 1899-08-18
LITTLE BROWN ONES LOST BELL
A Pretty Story From Old Scandinavian
Folklore.

the underground realm, for one of thu
little brown ones had lost his sleel
and his rest. 1t had come about IL
the most unlocked for manner, anC
created quite a sensation throughout
the kingdom, where everyone sympa.
thized with the unfortunate one.
The days in the year, when the lit
tie ones are allowed to come up tc
earth, are rare, and then they must
not appear in their own shape, lest
the sun, peeping over the hills,
should catch them unawares, and
they suffer the penalty of being trans
fixed by his arrows and turned into
stone. But in the night they may re-
tain their natural forms.
1t happened one midsummer night,
when all the fays and all the brown
ones were dancing on the heath, that
misfortune came to this one. He had
been glad to run here and there to
serve his king and all the guests
But when the night began to die and
the party had broken up and fled
downwards, then, and only then, the
little one discovered that, in the ex-
element of the dance, he had lost the
silver bell from his cap.
Now the most serious thing that
can befall brown one, is to lose his
cap or his slipper; but even to lose
the bell out Of his cap is quite calam-
ity enough For to such one many
sleepless nights will come, until he
finds it again, and it's gentle tinkle-
tinkle drives shadows and cares away,
and lulls him to rest and slumber.
Little Brown One searched diligent-
~ for his lost treasure every day that
he was permitted to come above
ground. He assumed the shape of
every animal and bird and insect,
and even of man, and sung about his
loss. But no bird or beast or crawl
ing thing, or fish in the deep, could
tell him what he wished to know.
There was one that could have told,
but how was he to know? A little
child had found the bell, so beautiful,
and tiny, and bright. He was a
shepherds boy, and when he tinkled
the toy, all his sheep ran here or
there, just as he wished them to 60
There was magic in the sound, and
the sheep obeyed it. But the boy
thought only that it was sweetness of
the bell that made them follow its
sound.
So he guarded his treasure, and told
no one Of his luck. He had not one
straying sheep in his fold after he
found the bell, and his master was
well pleased with his work.
One day, as he rested in the meadows
under shady tree, while the sheep
and the lambs frisled about the fields,
he dreamed the wonder-dreams that
come to youth and hope. He needed
not to watch his flocks. If they strayed,
all that he had to do was to tinlzle his
silver bell, and back they all would
scamper to the music of its tone.
But his dream was interrupted sud
denly by strange sound. High in
the air he heard a singing, strange
and clear and sweet, but the words he
heard were stranger still
"Little bell, little bell,
Little ram as well;
You, too, little sheep,
If you've my tinlzle too,
No sleeps so rich as you,
My rest you keep
The sun was shining brightly in a
sky feclxed with white clouds, and it
was only after straining his eyes that
the shepherd-boy was able to see, far
up, the strange bird that sung this
song.
He thought it very queer What
could it mean? His sheep richer than
other sheep because of their bells? 1t
was absurd Just then he heard again
the beautiful clear voice singing, and
he stopped thinking aloud to listen:
Little bell, little bell,
Little ram as well;
You, too, little sheep,
If you'v my tinkle too,
No sleeps so rich as you,
My rest you keep.
Ha-ha-ha!' laughed the shepherd
boy, chow silly that bird is My
sheep have common bells! But I
have a silver bell that would drown
all the WEAKNESS in the world. -
Saying which he took out his toy
and began ringing it. The sound
fioated over the fields calling the
sheep to him; it fioated soft and
sweet as the breath of flowers up into
the sunshine; as it rose higher and
higher, ever soft and ever sweet, the
very heavens seemed to ring with it's
melody, and the strange bird, which
was just about to fly away i'll further
quest, caught the echo of its tone,
and felt its thrill as no other could
For the strange bird was no other
than the little Brown One, and his
heart beat with hope at hearing the
sound of his lost bell.
While he rung his bell the boy for
got the strange song and the bird, or
he would have seen the latter fly sud
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