[Cover Illustration] STORIES TOLD BY THE MILLER BY VIOLET JACOB AUTHOR OF “IRRESOLUTE CATHERINE,” ETC. WITH ILLUSTRATIONS LONDON JOHN MURRAY, ALBEMARLE STREET, W. 1909 TO MY BOY HARRY CONTENTS 1. STORIES TOLD BY THE MILLER 2. THE STORY OF THE WATER-NIX 3. THE KING OF GROWGLAND’S CROWN 4. THE STORY OF MASTER BOGEY 5. THE TREE OF PRIDE 6. THE STORY OF FARMYARD MAGGIE 7. THE FIDDLING GOBLIN 8. THE WITCH’S CLOAK 9. CONCLUSION LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS 1. “ONCE . . . THE MILLER’S MAN SAW HER” 2. “THEN THE BIRD TOLD HER THE WHOLE PLOT” 3. “SHE HELD OUT HER HAND, AND HE TOOK IT” 4. “SHE WOULD SCARCE ANSWER HER FATHER WHEN HE SPOKE” 5. “MAGGIE TOOK IT AND BEGAN TO ROCK IT ABOUT” 6. “WHIRLING HER SPANGLED VEIL, SHE BEGAN TO GLIDE ABOUT” 7. “‘WHO ARE YOU?’ INQUIRED THE OLD WOMAN” STORIES TOLD BY THE MILLER Janet and little Peter lived in an old white-washed cottage that stood in a field by the border of the mill-pool. It was a tiny, weather-stained cot, to which a narrow path led through a gap in the low wall of the highroad. Across the road stood the mill itself, grey, windowless, and solid, with stone steps leading up to a door, through which, on a grinding day, you could hear the noise of the machinery and see the dusty atmosphere within. Peter and Janet thought the mill-field over the road a charming place; and so it was, for at one end the overflow from the tree-hidden dam poured down its paved slide in a white waterfall, to wander, a zigzagging stream, through the field and out, under the road, to the pool near their cottage. From the farther side of the dam the mill-lead ran evenly below the gnarled roots of the trees shadowing its course, and was lost in that dark hole in the wall behind which the flashing wheel turned. The water came racing out to join the overflow and dive with it through the causeway, coming up in the pool beyond. From there it meandered over the country into the river, which carried it to the sea. On wild days in winter you might hear the roaring sound of the North Sea beating against the coast.