



Produced by David Edwards, Sam W. and the Online Distributed
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                   THE
             PEARL STORY BOOK

         _Stories and Legends of
  Winter, Christmas, and New Year's Day_


               COMPILED BY

              ADA M. SKINNER
                   AND
            ELEANOR L. SKINNER

  _Editors of "The Emerald Story Book,"
  "The Topaz Story Book," "The Turquoise
  Story Book," "Children's Plays," Etc._


               [Decoration]


                 NEW YORK
            DUFFIELD & COMPANY
                   1919


            Copyright 1910 by
            DUFFIELD & COMPANY


  [Illustration: {Three shepherds look up at the sky, amazed}
      _Drawn by Maxfield Parrish_]




ACKNOWLEDGMENTS


The editors' thanks are due to the following authors and publishers
for the use of valuable material in this book:

To T. C. and E. C. Jack of Edinburgh for permission to use "Holly" and
the legend of the "Yew" from "Shown to the Children Series"; to
Frederick A. Stokes Company for "The Voice of the Pine Trees," from
"Myths and Legends of Japan"; to the Wessels Company for "The First
Winter" by W. W. Canfield; to Julia Dodge for permission to use two
poems by Mary Mapes Dodge; to the Christian Herald for a poem by
Margaret E. Sangster, Jr.; to Lothrop, Lee and Shepherd for "The Pine
and the Flax" by Albrekt Segerstedt; to the Outlook Company for a
story by Mine Morishima; to the Independent for the poem "Who Loves
the Trees Best?"; to Laura E. Richards for her story "Christmas
Gifts"; to George Putnam and Sons for "Silver Bells" by Hamish Hendry,
and "The Happy Prince" by Oscar Wilde; to the Churchman for a story
by John P. Peters; to Dodd, Mead and Company for the story "Holly"
from the "Story Hour"; and "Prince Winter" from "The Four Seasons" by
Carl Ewald; to George Jacobs for "A Legend of St. Nicholas" from "In
God's Garden" by Amy Steedman; to A. Flanagan Company for "The New
Year's Bell" from "Christ-Child Tales" by Andrea Hofer Proudfoot; to
Jay T. Stocking and the Pilgrims Press for "The Snowball That Didn't
Melt" from "The Golden Goblet"; to the New York State Museum for
permission to use two stories contained in Bulletin 125, by Mrs. H. M.
Converse; to Small, Maynard and Company for "A Song of the Snow," from
"Complete Works of Madison Cawein."

The selections from James Russell Lowell, Edna Dean Proctor, Celia
Thaxter, Nathaniel Hawthorne, Edith M. Thomas, Margaret Deland, John
Townsend Trowbridge, and Frank Dempster Sherman are used by permission
of, and by special arrangement with, Houghton, Mifflin Company,
authorized publishers of their works.




CONTENTS


    INTRODUCTION


    WINTER STORIES AND LEGENDS

                                                                  PAGE

    Winter (selection)              _James Russell Lowell_           2

    The Ice King (Indian legend)    _Eleanor L. Skinner_             3

    A Song of the Snow (poem)       _Madison Cawein_                 9

    King Frost and King Winter
        (adapted)                   _Margaret T. Canby_             11

    The Snowstorm (poem)            _Ralph Waldo Emerson_           18

    The First Winter (Iroquois
        legend)                     _W. W. Canfield_                20

    Snow Song (poem)                _Frank Dempster Sherman_        24

    The Snow Maiden (Russian
        legend. Translated from
        the French)                 _Eleanor L. Skinner_            25

    The Frost King (poem)           _Mary Mapes Dodge_              30

    King Winter's Harvest           _Selected_                      32

    Old King Winter (poem)          _Anna E. Skinner_               36

    Sheltering Wings                _Harriet Louise Jerome_         37

    Snowflakes (selection)          _Henry Wadsworth Longfellow_    41

    The Snow-Image                  _Nathaniel Hawthorne_           42


    WINTER WOODS

    The First Snow-Fall             _James Russell Lowell_          62

    The Voice of the Pine Trees
        (Japanese legend)           _Frank Hadland Davis_           63

    The Pine Tree Maiden (Indian
        legend)                     _Ada M. Skinner_                68

    The Holly                       _Janet Harvey Kelman_           73

    The Fable of the Three
        Elms (poem)                 _Margaret E. Sangster, Jr._     79

    The Pine and the Willow         _Mine Morishima_                82

    Why the Wild Rabbits Are
        White in Winter
        (Algonquin legend retold)   _Eleanor L. Skinner_            86

    The Yew                         _Janet Harvey Kelman_           93

    How the Pine Tree Did
        Some Good                   _Samuel W. Duffield_            95

    A Wonderful Weaver (poem)       _George Cooper_                105

    The Pine and the Flax           _Albrekt Segerstedt_           107

    The Fir Tree (poem)             _Edith M. Thomas_              110

    Why Bruin Has a Stumpy Tail
        (Norwegian legend)          _Eleanor L. Skinner_           111

    Pines and Firs                  _Mrs. Dyson_                   116

    Who Loves the Trees Best?
        (poem)                      _Selected_                     131


    CHRISTMAS EVERYWHERE

    A Christmas Song                _Phillips Brooks_              134

    The Shepherd Maiden's Gift
        (Eastern legend)            _Eleanor L. Skinner_           135

    Christmas Gifts                 _Laura E. Richards_            141

    Silver Bells (poem)             _Hamish Hendry_                146

    The Animals' Christmas Tree     _John P. Peters_               147

    A Christmas Carol               _Christina Rossetti_           162

    Holly                           _Ada M. Marzials_              164

    The Willow Man (poem)           _Juliana Horatia Ewing_        175

    The Ivy Green (selection)       _Charles Dickens_              178

    Legend of St. Nicholas          _Amy Steedman_                 179

    Christmas Bells (selection)     _Henry Wadsworth Longfellow_   197

    A Night With Santa Claus        _Anna R. Annan_                198

    A Child's Thought About
        Santa Claus (poem)          _Sydney Dayre_                 208

    Charity in a Cottage            _Jean Ingelow_                 210

    The Waits (poem)                _Margaret Deland_              223

    Where Love Is There God
        Is Also (adapted)           _Leo Tolstoi_                  225

    God Rest Ye, Merry Gentlemen    _Dinah Mulock Craik_           234


    THE GLAD NEW YEAR

    The Glad New Year (poem)        _Mary Mapes Dodge_             236

    The Bad Little Goblin's
        New Year                    _Mary Stewart_                 237

    Selection                       _Robert Herrick_               248

    The Queen of the Year (poem)    _Edna Dean Proctor_            249

    The New Year's Bell             _Andrea Hofer Proudfoot_       250

    The New Year                    _Selected_                     256

    The Child and the Year (poem)   _Celia Thaxter_                257

    A Masque of the Days            _Charles Lamb_                 258

    Ring Out, Wild Bells (poem)     _Alfred Tennyson_              262


    MIDWINTER

    The Bells (selection)           _Edgar Allen Poe_              264

    A January Thaw                  _Dallas Lore Sharp_            265

    The Snow Man                    _Hans Christian Andersen_      276

    The Happy Prince                _Oscar Wilde_                  284

    The Legend of King Wenceslaus
        (adapted)                   _John Mason Neale_             303

    Midwinter (poem)                _John Townsend Trowbridge_     310


    WHEN WINTER AND SPRING MET

    Old Winter (poem)               _Thomas Noel_                  314

    The Snowball That Didn't Melt   _Jay T. Stocking_              315

    Gau-wi-di-ne and Go-hay
        (Iroquois legend retold)    _Eleanor L. Skinner_           330

    Naming the Winds (Indian
        legend retold)              _Ada M. Skinner_               339

    North Wind's Frolic
        (translated)                _Montgomery Maze_              343

    The Months: A Pageant
        (adapted)                   _Christina Rossetti_           346

    Prince Winter                   _Carl Ewald_                   366

    How Spring and Winter
        Met (poem)                  _Edith M. Thomas_              376




INTRODUCTION


"Once upon a time," in the winter season suggests happy, young faces
grouped about a blazing fire. A heavy snowstorm promises plenty of
sport for tomorrow, but at present the cosiness indoors is very
attractive, especially now that the evening story hour is at hand. And
while the story-teller is slowly choosing his subjects he hears the
children's impatient whispers of "The Snow Man," "Prince Winter," "The
Legend of Holly," "The Animals' Christmas Tree."

Silence! The story-teller turns his eyes from the glowing fire to the
faces of his eager audience. He is ready to begin.

Each season of the year opens a treasury of suggestion for stories. In
the beauty and wonder of nature are excellent themes for tales which
quicken children's interest in the promise of joyous springtime, in
the rich pageantry of ripening summer, in the blessings of generous
autumn, and in the merry cheer of grim old winter.

The Pearl Story Book is the fourth volume in a series of nature books
each of which emphasizes the interest and beauty characteristic of a
particular season. The central theme of this volume is winter,
"snow-wrapped and holly-decked."




WINTER STORIES AND LEGENDS




WINTER


    Down swept the chill wind from the mountain peak,
    From the snow five thousand summers old;
    On open wold and hill-top bleak
    It had gathered all the cold,
    And whirled it like sleet on the wanderer's cheek.
    It carried a shiver everywhere
    From the unleafed boughs and pastures bare;
    The little brook heard it and built a roof
    'Neath which he could house him winter-proof;
    All night by the white stars' frosty gleams
    He groined his arches and matched his beams;
    Slender and clear were his crystal spars
    As the lashes of light that trim the stars:
    He sculptured every summer delight
    In his halls and chambers out of sight.

                        James Russell Lowell.




THE ICE KING

(Indian Legend)


Once upon a time there was an Indian village built on the bank of a
wide river. During the spring, summer, and autumn the people were very
happy. There was plenty of fuel and game in the deep woods; the river
afforded excellent fish. But the Indians dreaded the months when the
