The Junior Classics, Volume 6: Old-Fashioned Tales
General
The Junior Classics, Volume 6: Old-Fashioned Tales
Children's literature
In the midst of many reflections, which were all very sensible, though
rather too late, Master No-book's attention became attracted by the
sound of many voices laughing, talking, and singing, which caused him
to turn his eyes in a new direction, when, for the first time, he
observed that the fairy Teach-all's garden lay upon a beautiful
sloping bank not far off. There a crowd of merry, noisy, rosy-cheeked
boys were busily employed, and seemed happier than the day was long,
while poor Master No-book watched them during his own miserable hours,
envying the enjoyment with which they raked the flower-borders,
gathered the fruit, carried baskets of vegetables to the poor, worked
with carpenter's tools, drew pictures, shot with bows-and-arrows,
played at cricket, and then sat in the sunny arbours learning their
tasks, or talking agreeably together, till at length, a dinner-bell
having been rung, the whole party sat merrily down with hearty
appetites and cheerful good-humour, to an entertainment of plain roast
meat and pudding, where the fairy Teach-all presided herself, and
helped her guests moderately to as much as was good for each.
Large tears rolled down the cheeks of Master No-book while watching
this scene, and remembering that if he had known what was best for
him, he might have been as happy as the happiest of these excellent
boys, instead of suffering ennui and weariness, as he had done at the
fairy Do-nothing's, ending in a miserable death. But his attention was
soon after most alarmingly roused by hearing the giant Snap-'em-up
again in conversation with his cook, who said that, if he wished for
a good large dish of scalloped children at dinner, it would be
necessary to catch a few more, as those he had already provided would
scarcely be a mouthful.
As the giant kept very fashionable hours, and always waited dinner for
himself till nine o'clock, there was still plenty of time; so, with a
loud grumble about the trouble, he seized a large basket in his hand,
and set off at a rapid pace towards the fairy Teach-all's garden. It
was very seldom that Snap-'em-up ventured to think of foraging in this
direction, as he never once succeeded in carrying off a single captive
from the enclosure, it was so well fortified and so bravely defended;
but on this occasion, being desperately hungry, he felt as bold as a
lion, and walked, with outstretched hands, straight towards the fairy
Teach-all's dinner-table, taking such prodigious strides that he
seemed almost as if he would trample on himself.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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