. The flashes
of lightning were so awful that it seemed as if the whole world were in
flames.

When the tempest was over, both the grain and the flowers, greatly
refreshed by the rain, again stood erect in the pure, quiet air. But the
buckwheat had been burned as black as a cinder by the lightning and
stood in the field like a dead, useless weed.

The old willow waved his branches to and fro in the wind, and large
drops of water fell from his green leaves, as if he were shedding tears.
The sparrows asked: "Why are you weeping when all around seems blest? Do
you not smell the sweet perfume of flowers and bushes? The sun shines,
and the clouds have passed from the sky. Why do you weep, old tree?"

Then the willow told them of the buckwheat's stubborn pride and of the
punishment which followed.

I, who tell this tale, heard it from the sparrows. They told it to me
one evening when I had asked them for a story.

[Illustration]

WHAT HAPPENED TO THE THISTLE

AROUND a lordly old mansion was a beautiful, well-kept garden, full of
all kinds of rare trees and flowers. Guests always expressed their
delight and admiration at the sight of its wonders. The people from far
and near used to come on Sundays and holidays and ask permission to see
it. Even whole schools made excursions for the sole purpose of seeing
its beauties.

Near the fence that separated the garden from the meadow stood an
immense thistle. It was an uncommonly large and fine thistle, with
several branches spreading out just above the root, and altogether was
so strong and full as to make it well worthy of the name "thistle bush."

No one ever noticed it, save the old donkey that pulled the milk cart
for the dairymaids. He stood grazing in the meadow hard by and stretched
his old neck to reach the thistle, saying: "You are beautiful! I should
like to eat you!" But the tether was too short to allow him to reach the
thistle, so he did not eat it.

There were guests at the Hall, fine, aristocratic relatives from town,
and among them a young lady who had come from a long distance--all the
way from Scotland. She was of old and noble family and rich in gold and
lands--a bride well worth the winning, thought more than one young man
to himself; yes, and their mothers thought so, too!

The young people amused themselves on the lawn, playing croquet and
flitting about among the flowers, each young girl gathering a flower to
put in the buttonhole of