The Magician's Show Box, and Other StoriesTappan, Caroline Sturgis
Science
The Magician's Show Box, and Other Stories
Tappan, Caroline Sturgis
Children's stories; Fairy tales
So he lay down, pretending to sleep, and the little man lay down also,
with his face turned to the sky. When Gaspar thought him fast asleep,
he arose very softly, believing he could now surely escape; but at his
very first step up came a sly hand, catching him by the foot, so that
down he fell at the old man's side, and there saw the bright eyes
gazing up at the stars, without a wink of sleep in them. But Gaspar
soon forgot his travels, with all his bold intentions, and fell asleep
himself, to dream of skewers and cimeters.
In the morning the little man said, “Come now, it is foolish for you
to go trudging about over the world. You will never see any thing more
than polywogs and sandflies, and those you can find in your native
village. Give me a drink from your flask, and a bite of your apple,
and I can show you more wonders in a day in my show box here, than you
would find wandering about for a lifetime.”
Then he drew from the pocket of his gray coat a neat box, carved of
ivory, and having taken a bit of the apple and a sip of the water,
which Gaspar never thought of refusing, he touched a spring, up flew
the lid, and Gaspar peeped in. Ah, but it was a wondrous sight; for on
and on moved a procession of all imaginable things. Lions and
elephants seemed mere puppies, for here were mastodons and
ichthyosauri, and animals that lived before the flood was ever dreamed
of; and as for Turks and turbans, why, there were people with
headdresses that towered up into the skies, and ladies who made
rainbows pale. There were queens whose thrones were all one driven
pearl, and warriors whose swords were a flash of sunbeams.
“Ah, yes!” exclaimed Gaspar; “this is better than travelling. But how
shall I remember all these enchanting sights? I must make a note of
them.” And seizing his wooden sword, he began to draw in the sandy
road each figure as it appeared.
Hour after hour the procession passed on in the little ivory box. Hour
after hour he drew it in the sand, and that little man stood by, with
his quiet smile and great politeness. At length a loud hallooing was
heard, and they saw all the boys from the village running towards
them.
“What is going on here?” they called out. “Never were such clouds seen
as have been sailing over the village to-day. Whales and astronomers,
kings and crocodiles, and nobody knows what. They all sail from this
direction, and we have come to see what is going off here. Can it be
you, Gaspar, who are raising such a wind? Did you draw all these
lively things in the sand, and blow them up into clouds?”
Gaspar said he knew nothing about the clouds, but he thought it was
getting rather dark, and was as much surprised as any of the boys, to
see what grand figures he had thrown up into the sky. He begged his
new friend to show the boys his box; but he said, “No, it was not for
them,” and put it into his pocket.
They all laughed at it, and said such great creatures never came out
of that little paint box.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account