This learned student was slender , and rather pale , as all Yankee students are ; but yet of a healthy aspect , and as light and active as if he had wings to his shoes . By the by , being much addicted to wading through streamlets and across meadows , he had put on cowhide boots for the expedition . He wore a linen blouse , a cloth cap , and a pair of green spectacles , which he had assumed , probably , less for the preservation of his eyes , than for the dignity that they imparted to his countenance . In either case , however , he might as well have let then alone ; for Huckleberry , a mischievous little elf , crept behind Eustace as he sat on the steps of the porch , snatched the spectacles from his nose , and clapped them on her own ; and as the student forgot to take them back , they fell off into the grass , and lay there till the next spring . Now , Eustace Bright , you must know , had won great fame among the children , as a narrator of wonderful stories ; and though he sometimes pretended to be annoyed , when they teased him for more , and more , and always for more , yet I really doubt whether he liked anything quite so well as to tell them . You might have seen his eyes twinkle , therefore , when Clover , Sweet Fern , Cowslip , Buttercup , and most of their playmates , besought him to relate one of his stories , while they were waiting for the mist to clear up . `` Yes , Cousin Eustace , '' said Primrose , who was a bright girl of twelve , with laughing eyes , and a nose that turned up a little , `` the morning is certainly the best time for the stories with which you so often tire out our patience . We shall be in less danger of hurting your feelings , by falling asleep at the most interesting points , -- as little Cowslip and I did last night ! '' `` Naughty Primrose , '' cried Cowslip , a child of six years old ; `` I did not fall asleep , and I only shut my eyes , so as to see a picture of what Cousin Eustace was telling about . His stories are good to hear at night , because we can dream about them asleep ; and good in the morning , too , because then we can dream about them awake . So I hope he will tell us one this very minute . '' `` Thank you , my little Cowslip , '' said Eustace ; `` certainly you shall have the best story I can think of , if it were only for defending me so well from that naughty Primrose . But , children , I have already told you so many fairy tales , that I doubt whether there is a single one which you have not heard at least twice over . I am afraid you will fall asleep in reality , if I repeat any of them again . '' `` No , no , no ! '' cried Blue Eye , Periwinkle , Plantain , and half a dozen others . `` We like a story all the better for having heard it two or three tunes before . '' And it is a truth , as regards children , that a story seems often to deepen its mark in their interest , not merely by two or three , but by numberless repetitions . But Eustace Bright , in the exuberance of his resources , scorned to avail himself of an advantage which an older story-teller would have been glad to grasp at . `` It would be a great pity , '' said he , `` if a man of my learning -LRB- to say nothing of original fancy -RRB- could not find a new story every day , year in and year out , for children such as you .
I will tell you one of the nursery tales that were made for the amusement XXXXX our great old grandmother , the Earth , when she was a child in frock and pinafore .
So among as at by from if of that while