Fantasy literature; Hunting stories; Runaway children -- Juvenile fiction
Lily was very happy with them, and when school was done went home with
Sally and ate the best bread and milk for dinner that she ever tasted.
In the afternoon Johnny took her to the cornfield, and showed her how
they kept the growing ears free from mildew and worms. Then she went to
the bakehouse; and here she found her old friend Muffin hard at work
making Parker House rolls, for he was such a good cook he was set to
work at once on the lighter kinds of bread.
"Well, isn't this better than Candy-land or Saccharissa?" he asked, as
he rolled and folded his bits of dough with a dab of butter tucked
inside.
"Ever so much!" cried Lily. "I feel better already, and mean to learn
all I can. Mamma will be so pleased if I can make good bread when I go
home. She is rather old-fashioned, and likes me to be a nice
housekeeper. I didn't think bread interesting then, but I do now; and
Johnny's mother is going to teach me to make Indian cakes to-morrow."
"Glad to hear it. Learn all you can, and tell other people how to make
healthy bodies and happy souls by eating good plain food. Not like this,
though these rolls are better than cake. I have to work my way up to the
perfect loaf, you know; and then, oh, then, I'm a happy thing."
"What happens then? Do you go on to some other wonderful place?" asked
Lily, as Muffin paused with a smile on his face.
"Yes; I am eaten by some wise, good human being, and become a part of
him or her. That is immortality and heaven; for I may nourish a poet and
help him sing, or feed a good woman who makes the world better for being
in it, or be crumbed into the golden porringer of a baby prince who is
to rule a kingdom. Isn't that a noble way to live, and an end worth
working for?" asked Muffin, in a tone that made Lily feel as if some
sort of fine yeast had got into her, and was setting her brain to work
with new thoughts.
"Yes, it is. I suppose all common things are made for that purpose, if
we only knew it; and people should be glad to do anything to help the
world along, even making good bread in a kitchen," answered Lily, in a
sober way that showed that her little mind was already digesting the new
food it had got.
She stayed in Bread-land a long time, and enjoyed and learned a great
deal that she never forgot. But at last, when she had made the perfect
loaf, she wanted to go home, that her mother might see and taste it.
"I've put a good deal of myself into it, and I'd love to think I had
given her strength or pleasure by my work," she said, as she and Sally
stood looking at the handsome loaf.
"You can go whenever you like; just take the bread in your hands and
wish three times, and you'll be wherever you say. I'm sorry to have you
go, but I don't wonder you want to see your mother. Don't forget what
you have learned, and you will always be glad you came to us," said
Sally, kissing her good-by.
"Where is Muffin? I can't go without seeing him, my dear old friend,"
answered Lily, looking round for him.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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