"After that, I was never sent away from the village after dark. "My boy friends and I often came across badgers and deer, and sometimes foxes made their way into the village in search of poultry, but I never came nearer to meeting a wildcat than the time of which I have just told you." "What work did you do out of school hours?" asked Hans. The boy was thinking of the toys he had to carve. "My mother raised canary-birds, and I used to help her a great deal. Nearly every woman in the village was busy at the same work. What concerts we did have in those days! Mother tended every young bird she raised with the greatest care. Would it become a good singer and bring a fair price? We waited anxiously for the first notes, and then watched to see how the voices gained in strength and sweetness. "It was a pleasant life, and I was very happy among the birds in our little village. Would you like to hear a song I used to sing at that time? It is all about the birds and bees and flowers." "Do sing it for us," cried every one. Herr Abel had a good voice and they listened with pleasure to his song. This is the first stanza: "I have been on the mountain That the song-birds love best. They were sitting, were flitting, They were building their nest. They were sitting, were flitting, They were building their nest." After he had finished, he told about the mines in which some of his friends worked. It was a hard life, with no bright sunlight to cheer the men in those deep, dark caverns underground. "Of course you all know that the deepest mine in the world is in the Hartz Mountains." His friends nodded their heads, while Hans whispered to Bertha, "I should like to go down in that mine just for the sake of saying I have been as far into the earth as any living person." "The sun is setting, and there is a chill in the air," said Bertha's father. "Let us go home." CHAPTER VIII. WHAT THE WAVES BRING Bertha's mother had just come in from a hard morning's work in the fields. She had been helping her husband weed the garden. She spent a great deal of time outdoors in the summer-time, as many German peasant women do. They do a large share of the work in ploughing the grain-fields and harvesting the crops. They are much stronger than their American cousins. "Supper is all ready and waiting for you," said Bertha. The little girl had prepared a dish of sweet fruit soup which her mother had taught her to make. [Illustration: Bertha's Home.] "It is very good," said her father when he had tasted it. "My little Bertha is getting to be quite a housekeeper." "Indeed, it is very good," said her mother. "You learned your lesson well, my child." Bertha was quite abashed by so much praise. She looked down upon her plate and did not lift her eyes again till Gretchen began to tell of a new amber bracelet which had just been given to one of the neighbours.