There was once upon a time a little boy who
was tired of all his toys and tired of all his play.
"What shall I do ?" he asked his
mother.
And his mother, who always knew beautiful
things for little boys to do, said, " You shall go on a journey and find a little red
house with no doors and no windows and a star inside."
This really made the little boy wonder. Usually
his mother had good ideas, but he thought that this one was very strange.
"Which way shall I go?" he asked his
mother. "I don't know where to find a little red house with no doors and no window
."
"Go down the lane past the farmer's house
and over the hill," said his mother, "and then hurry back as soon as you can and
tell me all about your journey."
So the little boy put on his cap and his jacket
and started out. He had not gone very far down the lane when he came to a merry little
girl dancing in the sunshine. Her cheeks were like pink blossom petals and she was singing
like a robin.
"Do you know where I shall find a little red
house with no doors and no windows and a star in inside?" asked the little boy.
The little girl laughed, "Ask my father,
the farmer," she said. "Perhaps he knows."
So the little boy went on until he came to the
great brown barn were the farmer kept a barrel of fat potatoes and baskets of yellow
squashes and golden pumpkins. The farmer himself stood in the doorway looking out over the
green pastures and yellow grain fields.
"Do you know where I shall find a little
red house with no doors and no windows and a star inside?" asked the little boy
of the farmer.
The farmer laughed too. "I lived a great
many years and I never saw one." he chuckled, "but ask Granny who lives at the
foot of the hill. She knows how to make molasses, taffy and popcorn balls, and red
mittens! Perhaps she can direct you."
So the little boy went on farther still, until
he came to the Granny, sitting in her pretty garden of herbs and marigolds. She was
wrinkled as a walnut and as smiling as the sunshine. "Please, Dear Granny," said
the little boy. "Where shall I find a little red house with no doors and no
windows and a star inside?"
Granny was knitting a red mitten, and when she
heard the little boy's question, she laughed so cheerily that the wool ball rolled off her
lap and down the little pebbly path.
"I should like to find that little house
myself," she chuckled. " I would be warm when the frosty night comes and the
starlight would be prettier than a candle. Ask the wind who blows about so much and
listens at all the chimneys. Perhaps the wind can direct you."
So the little boy took off his cap and tipped
it politely to the Granny and went on up the hill rather sadly. He wondered if his mother,
who usually knew almost everything, had perhaps made a mistake.
The wind was coming down the hill as the little
boy climbed up. As they met, the wind turned about and went along, singing
beside the little boy. It whistled in his ear, pushed him and dropped a pretty leaf into
his hand.
"I wonder," thought the little boy,
after they had gone along together for awhile, "if the wind could help me find
a little red house with no doors and no windows a star inside."
The wind cannot speak in our words, but it went
singing ahead of the little boy until it came to an orchard. There it climbed up in the
apple tree and shook the branches. When the little boy climbed up, there at his feet lay a
great rosy apple.
The little boy picked the apple. It was as much
as his two hands could hold. It was red as the sun had been able to paint it, and the
thick brown stem stood up as straight as a chimmey, and it had no doors and nowindows. Was
there a star inside?
The little boy called to the wind, "Thank
you," and the wind whistled back, "You're welcome."
Then the little boy gave the apple to his
mother. His mother took a knife (AT THIS POINT , START CUTTING AN APPLE CROSSWISE)
and cut the apple through the center. Oh, how wonderful! There inside the apple, lay
a star holding brown seeds.
"It is too wonderful to eat without
looking at the star, isn't it?" the little boy said to his mother. "Yes
indeed," answered his mother. |
