"That's exactly like you!" cried her brother Charlie; "now, I say give us some exciting adventures by sea or by land; a real fish-story, or escape from a lion or tiger, or a tale of a bear, or something of that sort." "Poor Cousin Ellen! How can she please you all?" said Mary. "As Amy first proposed it, let us leave it to her to choose the kind of story she prefers, and so settle the difficulty." "Agreed! agreed! choose, Amy!" "As for me, I always like a real fairy-tale," said Amy, her eyes sparkling with pleasure as she saw with what good nature all had left the choice to her. "Then you shall have it; and I don't doubt that Aunt Lucy or Cousin Mary will contrive to please all in turn, another day." "Most especially, I hope they will not forget to give Charlie that brush with the _bear's tail_ that he wants so much!" said Cornelia, with a saucy glance of her eye. "Attention, Miss Cornelia! or you will prove that you deserve it yourself. Don't you see that Ellen is ready to begin?" The Fairy Wood. Upon the banks of the Rhine there stand the ruins of an ancient castle, which still attracts the attention of the passer-by, from its gigantic remains, and the exceeding beauty of its situation. And if now, when its glory has departed, the traveller is irresistibly impelled to ask its name, how imposing must it have been when its dark shadow was thrown unbroken upon the smooth waters below, and troops of cavaliers and armed retainers rode over its drawbridge, and mounted its battlements. Here, in the olden time, dwelt the noble Baron Sigismund; and here, nothing daunted by the gloomy grandeur of the fortress, his little son Rudolph romped and frolicked the live-long day. A charming fellow he was, with eyes of heavenly blue, and a complexion of pure milk and roses; a true boy, full of activity and vivacity, and with not a slight touch of mischief in his composition. And yet he was such an affectionate and good-hearted little soul, that his arms would be about your neck in a moment, if he thought you were offended by his conduct; and so generous, that he would take the cake from his own lips to give it to the beggar--no trifling stretch of charity in a boy.