He was a very obedient servant,
but not very bright; and when he came to the woods, he looked all around
for the plant with the chime of bells, for King Solomon had forgotten to
say that the bells do not ring after June, and it was now July. So the
goblin looked about for a long time. He did not dare to go back and say
he could not find it--that would have been a terrible crime, so he
looked and looked. At last he heard a little tinkle of bells away off in
the woods. He flew to the place, and there was a plant like the one he
sought but its bells were of silver, and all in a bunch instead of a
long string. The good goblin dug down to the big fat root in the ground
and found that the seal marks had grown over--at least he thought they
had--for they were nowhere to be seen. So he looked around for something
to help. His eye fell on an acorn cup. He took this, and using it for a
seal, he stamped the root all over.

Then he took a piece of the root and a sprig and flew back to show the
King. Solomon smiled and said: "You did the best you could, but you have
marked the wrong root. Listen! This is not the golden chime, but the
chime of silver bells."

That is the story of it and that is why it has ever since been called
the False Solomon Seal.

FOOTNOTE:

[A] Some, like the Turkey-buzzards, have not yet been heard to sing, but
I believe they do.

THINGS TO SEE IN SUMMERTIME

[Illustration: The Brownie and the Mouse-bird]

Things to See in Summertime

TALE 17

How the Mouse-bird Made Fun of the Brownie

Once there was a conceited Brownie, who thought he could do more things
and do them better than any other of his people. He had not tried yet,
for he was very young, but he said he was going to do them some day!

One morning a sly old Brownie, really making fun of him, said: "Why
don't you catch that Phoebe-bird? It is quite easy if you put a little
salt on his tail." Away went Smarty Brownie to try. But the Phoebe would
not sit still, and the Brownie came back saying: "He bobbed his tail so,
the salt would not stay on."

"Well," said the sly old Brownie, "there is a little Mouse-bird whose
tail never bobs. You can easily catch him, for you see, he does not even
fly, but crawls like a mouse up the tree," and he pointed to a little
brown Creeper. By this time the young Brownie knew that the others were
laughing at him, so he said rather hotly, "I'll just show you right
now."

He took an acorn cup