When night comes I bury my face in my arms and dream that my paper boats float on and on under the midnight stars. The fairies of sleep are sailing in them, and the lading is their baskets full of dreams. THE SAILOR The boat of the boatman Madhu is moored at the wharf of Rajgunj. It is uselessly laden with jute, and has been lying there idle for ever so long. If he would only lend me his boat, I should man her with a hundred oars, and hoist sails, five or six or seven. I should never steer her to stupid markets. I should sail the seven seas and the thirteen rivers of fairyland. But, mother, you won't weep for me in a corner. I am not going into the forest like Ramachandra to come back only after fourteen years. I shall become the prince of the story, and fill my boat with whatever I like. I shall take my friend Ashu with me. We shall sail merrily across the seven seas and the thirteen rivers of fairyland. We shall set sail in the early morning light. When at noontide you are bathing at the pond, we shall be in the land of a strange king. We shall pass the ford of Tirpurni, and leave behind us the desert of Tepântar. When we come back it will be getting dark, and I shall tell you of all that we have seen. I shall cross the seven seas and the thirteen rivers of fairyland. THE FURTHER BANK I long to go over there to the further bank of the river, Where those boats are tied to the bamboo poles in a line; Where men cross over in their boats in the morning with ploughs on their shoulders to till their far-away fields; Where the cowherds make their lowing cattle swim across to the riverside pasture; Whence they all come back home in the evening, leaving the jackals to howl in the island overgrown with weeds, Mother, if you don't mind, I should like to become the boatman of the ferry when I am grown up. They say there are strange pools hidden behind that high bank, Where flocks of wild ducks come when the rains are over, and thick reeds grow round the margins where waterbirds lay their eggs; Where snipes with their dancing tails stamp their tiny footprints upon the clean soft mud; Where in the evening the tall grasses crested with white flowers invite the moonbeam to float upon their waves. Mother, if you don't mind, I should like to become the boatman of the ferryboat when I am grown up. I shall cross and cross back from bank to bank, and all the boys and girls of the village will wonder at me while they are bathing. When the sun climbs the mid sky and morning wears on to noon, I shall come running to you, saying, "Mother, I am hungry!" When the day is done and the shadows cower under the trees, I shall come back in the dusk. I shall never go away from you into the town to work like father. Mother, if you don't mind, I should like to become the boatman of the ferryboat when I am grown up. THE FLOWER-SCHOOL When storm clouds rumble in the sky and June showers come down,