Overcome with joy, the widow seized Peter, who had crept curiously to her side, in her arms and exclaimed with delight, “Ah! you shall have a nice blue dress, after all, my child.”

But when the boy asked, “Who has sent us all this money, Mother?” all she could say was, “I wish I knew, my dear.  But you see there is no letter with it.”

Then Peter smiled expressively, but said nothing, for he thought—­“Mother won’t believe me, I know.  But who can the money have come from, except from the little Parsnip-man?”

A CHILD’S WISHES.

(From the German of R. Reinick.)

A certain old knight had a little daughter called Gertrude; and when his brother died, leaving an only son, he took the boy into his castle, and treated him as his own son.  The boy’s name was Walter.  The two children lived together like brother and sister; they only played where they could play together, and were of one heart and of one soul.  But one day, when Gertrude had gone out alone to pick flowers beyond the castle gate, some gipsies came along the high-road, who stole the child and took her away.  No one knew what had become of her; the poor old father died of grief, and Walter wept long days and nights for his Gertrude.

At last there came a warm spring day, when the trees began to bud, and Walter went out into the wood.  There, in a beautiful green spot, a brook bubbled under the trees, where he had often sat with Gertrude, floating little boats of nutshells on the stream.  He sat down there now, cut himself a hazel stick for a hobby-horse, and as he did so he said to himself—­

“Ah! if I were but a grown-up knight, as tall and stately as those who used to come to my uncle’s castle, I would ride out into the wide world and look for Gertrude!”

Meanwhile, he heard something screaming near him, and when he looked up he saw a raven, which was stuck so fast between two branches of a tree that it could not move, whilst a snake was gliding towards it to devour it.  Walter hastily seized his stick, beat the snake to death, and set the raven free.

“A thousand thanks, my dear child!” said the raven, who had flown up into a tree, from which he spoke—­“a thousand thanks!  And now, since you have saved my life, wish for whatever you like, and it shall be granted immediately.  A year hence we will speak of this again.”

When Walter heard this, he saw at once that the raven was an enchanted bird, and exclaimed with joy—­

“I should like to be a noble knight with a helmet and a shield, a charger and a sword!”

All happened just as he wished.  In an instant he was a tall, stately knight; his shield stood near him, and his hobby-horse became a proud charger, which, to show that it was no ghost, but a real horse of flesh and blood, began then and there to drink out of the stream.

At first, Walter could not think what had happened to him, but stood as if he were in a dream.  Soon, however, a new life seemed to wake within him; he swung himself on to his horse with all the energy of youth, and rode far out into the land to look for little Gertrude.