eir father and mother. They threw the bread into the
water, and one and all said that "the new one was the prettiest; he
was so young and handsome." And the old swans bent their heads and did
homage before him.

[Illustration: Some little children threw pieces of bread into the
water]

He felt quite shy, and hid his head under his wing; he did not know
what to think; he was so very happy, but not at all proud; a good
heart never becomes proud. He thought of how he had been pursued and
scorned, and now he heard them all say that he was the most beautiful
of all beautiful birds. The lilacs bent their boughs right down into
the water before him, and the bright sun was warm and cheering, and he
rustled his feathers and raised his slender neck aloft, saying, with
exultation in his heart: "I never dreamed of so much happiness when I
was the Ugly Duckling!"

HOP-O'-MY-THUMB

There once lived in a village a fagot-maker and his wife who had seven
children--all boys; the eldest was no more than ten years old, and the
youngest was only seven. It was odd enough, to be sure, that they
should have so many children in such a short time; but the truth is,
the wife always brought him two and once three at a time. This made
him very poor, for not one of these boys was old enough to get a
living; and what was still worse, the youngest was a puny little
fellow who hardly ever spoke a word. Now this, indeed, was a mark of
his good sense, but it made his father and mother suppose him to be
silly, and they thought that at last he would turn out quite a fool.
This boy was the least size ever seen; for when he was born he was no
bigger than a man's thumb, which made him be christened by the name of
Hop-o'-my-Thumb. The poor child was the drudge of the whole house, and
always bore the blame of everything that was done wrong. For all this,
Hop-o'-my-Thumb was far more clever than any of his brothers; and
though he spoke but little he heard and knew more than people thought.
It happened just at this time that for want of rain the fields had
grown but half as much corn and potatoes as they used to grow; so that
the fagot-maker and his wife could not give the boys the food they had
before, which was always either bread or potatoes.

After the father and mother had grieved some time, they thought that
as they could contrive no other way to live they must somehow get rid
of their children. One night when the boys were gone to b