CHAPTER I

Long, long ago there lived far away in India a woodcutter called Subha Datta and his family, who were all very happy together.  The father went every day to the forest near his home to get supplies of wood, which he sold to his neighbours, earning by that means quite enough to give his wife and children all that they needed.  Sometimes he took his three boys with him, and now and then, as a special treat, his two little girls were allowed to trot along beside him.  The boys longed to be allowed to chop wood for themselves, and their father told them that as soon as they were old enough he would give each of them a little axe of his own.  The girls, he said, must be content with breaking off small twigs from the branches he cut down, for he did not wish them to chop their own fingers off.  This will show you what a kind father he was, and you will be very sorry for him when you hear about his troubles.

All went well with Subha Datta for a long time.  Each of the boys had his own little axe at last, and each of the girls had a little pair of scissors to cut off twigs; and very proud they all were when they brought some wood home to their mother to use in the house.  One day, however, their father told them they could none of them come with him, for he meant to go a very long way into the forest, to see if he could find better wood there than nearer home.  Vainly the boys entreated him to take them with him.  “Not to-day,” he said, “you would be too tired to go all the way, and would lose yourselves coming back alone.  You must help your mother to-day and play with your sisters.”  They had to be content, for although Hindu children are as fond of asking questions as English boys and girls, they are very obedient to their parents and do all they are told without making any fuss about it.

Of course, they expected their father would come back the day he started for the depths of the forest, although they knew he would be late.  What then was their surprise when darkness came and there was no sign of him!  Again and again their mother went to the door to look for him, expecting every moment to see him coming along the beaten path which led to their door.  Again and again she mistook the cry of some night-bird for his voice calling to her.  She was obliged at last to go to bed with a heavy heart, fearing some wild beast had killed him and that she would never see him again.

1.  What do you think had become of Subha Datta?

2.  What would you have done when he did not come back?

CHAPTER II

When Subha Datta started for the forest, he fully intended to come back the same evening; but as he was busy cutting down a tree, he suddenly had a feeling that he was no longer alone.  He looked up, and there, quite close to him, in a little clearing where the trees had been cut down by some other woodcutter, he saw four beautiful young girls looking like fairies in their thin summer dresses and with their long hair flowing down their backs, dancing round and round, holding each other’s hands.  Subha Datta was so astonished at the sight that he let his axe fall, and the noise startled the dancers, who all four stood still and stared at him.