Other little children
Shall bring my boats ashore.

ROBERT LOUIS STEVENSON.




WHY THE SEA IS SALT


Long ago, there were two brothers, one rich and one poor. The Rich
Brother was stingy.

It was winter. The wind howled down the chimney, and the snow almost
covered the hut in which the Poor Brother lived.

"We cannot starve," said the Poor Brother to his wife. "I will ask my
brother to help us."

Now it annoyed the Rich Brother to have the Poor Brother ask for help.
When the Poor Brother asked for bread, the Rich Brother said angrily,
"Here, take this ham and go to the dwarfs. They will boil it for you."

So the Poor Brother started out, with the ham under his arm, to find the
home of the dwarfs. He trudged on through the snow until he saw seven
queer little dwarfs rolling a huge snowball, at the foot of a hill.

The dwarfs paid no attention to the Poor Brother, but kept on rolling
the snowball, which grew larger and larger each moment, as they sang,