The Village of Hide and SeekWilson, Bingham Thoburn
Science
The Village of Hide and Seek
Wilson, Bingham Thoburn
Children's stories
"Far off to the right, and many thousands of feet higher than the rock
on which they were standing, a stream came tumbling down from the crown
of a tall mountain, and churning its waters into endless foam, fell into
a deep and distant valley.
"Pointing away with her pretty hand, the Queen said to the children:
"'Behold, darlings, the famous Butter-milk Falls of which you have heard
so much! The stream, as you see, does not enter into this lake, but
falls from the top of Cheese Mountain and then wanders away through a
sandy valley where it sinks into the ground.'
"For a moment the children gazed upon it; then Arthur exclaimed with
some satisfaction:
"I'm glad it doesn't empty here for I never did like butter-milk.'
"The Queen and the children laughed heartily at the very thought.
"As they stood laughing upon the rock, they beheld at no great distance
a wild, noisy cataract, where a beautiful, wide, golden stream leaped
from a high rock, and whirling its never-ceasing torrent into endless
eddies of a thousand different dyes, plunged into the lake that lay
before them.
"'Look, Maud!' exclaimed Arthur. 'Look! Look! The beautiful falls!'
"The children asked of the Queen its name and she replied:
"'That, my darlings, is the end of Taffy River and those are the Stick
Candy Falls. Here Taffy River pours its delicious stream over the rocks
into Lake Fudge that you see lying before you. Now,' she continued, 'we
will walk over and inspect Stick Candy Falls, after which we will return
to this rock, for I consider this the finest viewpoint anywhere along
the shore of the lake.'
"The Queen did not have to assist the children in their descent from the
rock. With a merry bound they ran down the path ahead of her, delighted
with the prospect of visiting the Falls which appeared so beautiful.
"Around them on all sides, grew sweet-scented flowers that, at any other
time, might have caused the children to stay their steps, for they were
fond of wild flowers indeed; but on this particular occasion all the
blossoms of the woodland would not have tempted them, for the sound of
the roaring cataract grew louder and louder as they drew near.
"The path descended into a little glen, the rocky sides of which hid the
cataract from view; and the children stopped to look back upon the spot
from which they had just come. There towered the tall rock with its one
steep side facing the lake. The great Giant, Kimbo, sat on the ground at
its base leaning against the cliff, his head drooped heavily forward
almost between his drawn up knees.
Illustration: _"The children stopped to look back upon the spot from
which they had just come."_
"As they drew near to where the angry river made its desperate leap, the
children were frightened, for the wind caused by the cataract came
roaring about their ears, bearing mist and spray that for a time almost
blinded them. They passed around this danger point and came to a more
sheltered spot, where they paused to view the falls.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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