Wauwatosa news. [volume] (Wauwatosa, Wis.) 1900-1948, 1906-01-20
For the Children.
Tree Trolls.

Go away. Don't you dare to tickle
me again. oh, you needn't hide in the
bushes there. | can see you"
Babiola held her breath and Rugged
Toots close. She was down at the end
of the garden where the old stone wall
separated ii from the apple orchard.
The lilac bushes grew tall and straight
ON the garden side, and on the orchard
side was long, thick row of hazel
bushes. Bobolink called al the nut cor
ner. because besides the haZelnuts there
was big chestnut tree and a walnut
and three hickory trees and way down
AT the end of the orchard grew one lone
butternut tree. 1t was the oldest tree
of the lot and the largest Its limbs
were twisted and knottcd into big snarls
rs though it had rheumatism, like Mar
guerite. the cook An ut once she heard
some one Seeding
You can 30 right away. | haven't
any more left. anyway The others
stole them all away as soon as | fell
over, TO way
Babioa peeped over the tops of the
bushes Ii was the old butteruut tree
it. There had been Il storm the night
before. Not rain or snow storm,
hut the windieSt wind storm you ever
heard. 1t banged the window blinds
and waltzed in the chimney. and sent
the last leaves swirling dizzily through
the air. But the worst thing it did was
turning the old butteruut topsy-turvy
There it lay, sprawled out full length
on the ground. with its roots facing Ra-
biola. And they were the strangest
roots. The minute Toots saw them she
tainted and looked crosS-eyed. 1t was
enough to make any one look CroSS-eycd. |
There weren't any roots at all, really. |
not real rooty roots. There were only
Il great head of wooden limbs that stared
at Babiola and scowled at Toots.
Did YOU tumble down. asked Bahi- |
ola. She knew right away it was the
old butternut, and she couldn't help but
feel sorry for him.
No, ! didn't. | tumbed up"
Did the wind do it,"
Don't You know very well who did !
liz" asked the tree suspiciousy. Aren't |
YOU one of themT'
I'm not one of anything. I'm just
She came from behind the hazel |
bushes and the tree gave n shake of re-
lief when it saw her.
You looked just like troll with only !
the top of your head showing. There !
were three around me just Il minute ago F.!
and they acted terribly. Tickled me un- |
der my roots and pulled my branches |
trolls who tumbled me up too. 'ow |
it was. They've been trying to do il To-. :
years. There goes one now
Babiola jumped, So did Toots, But
there wasn't anything in sight except
little gray squirrel running along th
s!oao wall.
It's just squirrel said Bahiola. /
They won't hurt Won
Yes, they will, too They're not squir- |
rels. They re trolls. When they come |
up out Of the ground they always slip |
into Il squirrel skin so the earth people !
won't know them. But they can't fool
me- You can tell them by their hands.
\ squirrel has paws but a troll has /
hands. and he can't hide them. Trees /
never mind squirrels, but they can't bear
trolls"
Whats a trollY' said Babiola
DO you know what n gnome iss Aud
a brownie? And 4 pixie? And a ko-
boldI And the little brown dwarts?
Well, once a brownies second cousin
married kobold's aunt, and she was
stepmother to pixie family whose
grea grandfather had been n gnouc, and
their children were trolls. They look
like the brown dwarfs, only they had
pixie heads and kobold feet. and they're
just as full of mchief and tricks as
butternut is of meat. It's all their fault
that we have to stand on our heads all
the time. They did it,"
Il didn't know that trees stood on
their heads
That's because you're a foolshness.
Can't you tell head when you see oneE
Don't | look like head! Did you ever
see head Oh my feet mean my
branches! Why, once the tree people
used to walk around all right and they
were splendid people, too. don't re-
member, because | grew upside down,
but there's an oak somewhere down the
road who remembers hearing his father
oak telling the acorn babies about II.
The only thing about them was that they
were proud, and wanted to wear beauti-
full clothes and have piles of gold aud
silver. like the ground people. 1t was
tho trolls that used to come mp out of
the ground aud tell them about It's
riches So the tree people forgot the
sunshine and soft rains aud blue sky
with its stars and tried To- dig III the
ground deeper and deeper after the troll
trea Sures.
How far do you have 10 dig before
you find the trolls
How Never you mind, cautioned
the tree. Just let the trolls alone or
the first thing You know youIl be stand
ing on yoHr head, too. That's what
happened to the tree people one day
they found they couldn't get uat 81 The
earth holes they had dug. and there they
were, standing on their heads. with t0c.r
hands way down i'm the earth digging
forever deeper, and yet not deep
enough, And the trolls would come up
and laugh ut them aud steal their nuts
away and STRIP their pretty leaves eff,