“But may I stay all winter?”

“Yes,” said the spruce; “I shall like to have you.”

The pine-tree stood beside the spruce, and when he saw the little bird hopping and fluttering with his broken wing, he said, “My branches are not very warm, but I can keep the wind off because I am big and strong.”

So the little bird fluttered up into the warm branch of the spruce, and the pine-tree kept the wind off his house; then the juniper-tree saw what was going on, and said that she would give the little bird his dinner all the winter, from her branches.  Juniper berries are very good for little birds.

The little bird was very comfortable in his warm nest sheltered from the wind, with juniper berries to eat.

The trees at the edge of the forest remarked upon it to each other: 

“I wouldn’t take care of a strange bird,” said the birch.

“I wouldn’t risk my acorns,” said the oak.

“I would not speak to strangers,” said the willow.  And the three trees stood up very tall and proud.

That night the North Wind came to the woods to play.  He puffed at the leaves with his icy breath, and every leaf he touched fell to the ground.  He wanted to touch every leaf in the forest, for he loved to see the trees bare.

“May I touch every leaf?” he said to his father, the Frost King.

“No,” said the Frost King, “the trees which were kind to the bird with the broken wing may keep their leaves.”

So North Wind had to leave them alone, and the spruce, the pine, and the juniper-tree kept their leaves through all the winter.  And they have done so ever since.

THE STAR DOLLARS[1]

[Footnote 1:  Adapted from Grimms’ Fairy Tales.]

There was once a little girl who was very, very poor.  Her father and mother had died, and at last she had no little room to stay in, and no little bed to sleep in, and nothing more to eat except one piece of bread.  So she said a prayer, put on her little jacket and her hood, and took her piece of bread in her hand, and went out into the world.

When she had walked a little way, she met an old man, bent and thin.  He looked at the piece of bread in her hand, and said, “Will you give me your bread, little girl?  I am very hungry.”  The little girl said, “Yes,” and gave him her piece of bread.

When she had walked a little farther she came upon a child, sitting by the path, crying.  “I am so cold!” said the child.  “Won’t you give me your little hood, to keep my head warm?” The little girl took off her hood and tied it on the child’s head.  Then she went on her way.

After a time, as she went, she met another child.  This one shivered with the cold, and she said to the little girl, “Won’t you give me your jacket, little girl?” And the little girl gave her her jacket.  Then she went on again.