Hans was a little blue-eyed German orphan who had been "adopted" by a man and wife because they thought they could make good use of him; but to their chagrin they were disappointed. Hans had been told again and again that he was an ungrateful, lazy, good for-nothing. This was also the reason why his master whipped him so frequently. Now Hans was only nine years old and, of course, he could not know that he was so thoroughly bad unless he was told and the telling of it accompanied by cuffs, in order to impress this fact more fully upon his dull brain. It was really true that Hans was lazy and perhaps queer in many ways. He disliked hard work, preferring to wander about the fields and meadows, the ditches, pastures, and the trees of the nearby forest. He had been discovered lying in the grass watching the fleeting clouds overhead and listening to the sighing of the wind in the tall grass and the overshadowing trees. In his imagination the breezes whispered soothing words, soft and low. He watched the busy bees, the ants, and the black carrion beetles tugging great loads up hill. Often he had observed a lady with two children about his age going by on their way to Sunday-school. With wistful eyes he would watch the romping of the children and listen to their exclamations of joy as they played among the flowers. Sometimes the kind lady would beckon to Hans and talk kindly to him and make him presents. Then little Hans would cry as though his poor heart would break. He hid the gifts in a secret nook in the granary which was also his sleeping place and often he would think of the kind lady and her happy children while the love-hunger shone in his eyes.