The Tangled Skein

"My dear child," said the Angel-who-attends-to things, "why are you crying so very hard?" "Oh dear! oh dear!" said the child. "No one ever had such a dreadful time before, I do believe, and it all comes of trying to be good. Oh dear! Oh dear! I wish I was bad; then I should not have all this trouble." "Yes, you would," said the Angel; "a great deal worse. Now tell me what is the matter!" "Look!" said the child. "Mother gave me this skein to wind, and I promised to do it. But then father sent me on an errand, and it was almost school-time, and I was studying my lesson and going on the errand and winding the skein, all at the same time, and now I have got all tangled up in the wool, and I cannot walk either forward or back, and oh! dear me, what ever shall I do?" "Sit down!" said the Angel. "But it is school-time!" said the child. "Sit down!" said the Angel. "But father sent me on an errand!" said the child. "SIT DOWN!" said the Angel; and he took the child by her shoulders and set her down. "Now sit still!" he said, and he began patiently to wind up the skein. It was wofully tangled, and knotted about the child's hands and feet; it was a wonder she could move at all; but at last it was all clear, and the Angel handed her the ball. "I thank you so very much!" said the child. "I was not naughty, was I?" "Not naughty, only foolish; but that does just as much harm sometimes." "But I was doing right things!" said the child. "But you were doing them in the wrong way!" said the Angel. "It is good to do an errand, and it is good to go to school, but when you have a skein to wind you must sit still."