United States or Croatia ? Vote for the TOP Country of the Week !
"Mother will not be angry," said Conrad, "we shall tell her of the heavy snow that has kept us, and she will say nothing; father will not, either. And if we grow cold, why then we must slap our hands to our bodies as the woodcutters did, and then we shall grow warm again." "Yes, Conrad," said the girl.
He knows that the sins of woodcutters and the sins of kings are not of the same family, and that copper and gold are not weighed in the same scales. He is a Jesuit by his garb; he is much more so than they are by his 'savoir-vivre'. His companions love the King because he is the King; he loves him, and pities him because he sees his weakness.
Then his mother gave him a large ax, and he used to go out in the forest and help the woodcutters, who called him "Wonder-child," and his mother the "Old Nurse of the Mountains," for they did not know her high rank. Another favorite pastime of Kintaro's was to smash up rocks and stones. You can imagine how strong he was!
"I shall strike the first blow," said the chief wood-cutter, and he lifted his axe in the air. Suddenly from the tree-top a warning voice sang, "Throw the axe down, harm not me. I am an enchanted tree. He who strikes shall breathe his last, Before Midsummer Eve hath passed." "There is a spirit in the tree," cried the woodcutters, thoroughly frightened.
They then stretched her on the grass, for she had fainted; and now the wolves had just reached them, when, lo! these beasts of prey were instantly turned into three little lambs, and licked the feet of the lady, who slowly returned to life. "My good lads," said she to the woodcutters, "fear nothing. From henceforth no more dangerous animals than these shall trouble you.
Here he married a young woman attached to the Duchess of Grafton's family, but after spending about half a year at home he again sailed for Jamaica, carrying out a quantity of goods to exchange for the commodities most in request among the woodcutters.
When his mother and his household knew what had happened, they rejoiced with exceeding joy and congratulated him on his good fortune; and his quondam comrades the woodcutters also came and gave him joy. Then he mounted again and, riding to the house of the late Wazir Shamhur, laid hands on all that was therein and transported it to his own abode.
Two woodcutters standing close to the giant remained with axes in their grip, like two executioners ready to strike once more, and Renardet, motionless, with his hand on the trunk, awaited the fall with an uneasy, nervous feeling. One of the men said to him: "You are too near, Monsieur le Maire. When it falls it may hurt you." He did not reply and did not move away.
And on seeing a band of labourers and rough-bearded men, tanned by the sun, coming along behind the woodcutters, he continued: "That is the contingent from La Palud. That was the first place to rise. The men in blouses are labourers who cut up the cork-trees; the others in velveteen jackets must be sportsmen, poachers, and charcoal-burners living in the passes of the Seille.
"Go back! of course not," said the accountant; "in a short time we shall get into the old woodcutters' track of last year, and although it's not beaten at all, yet it is pretty level and open, so that we shall get on famously." "Go on, then," sighed Hamilton.
Word Of The Day