And it chanced that Pippa passed, singing, and her song reached the man;
and it was to him as if God called. He rose up strong and brave, and
leaping to his horse he rode away to give the great deed to the world.

At night when the tired Pippa lay upon her little bed, she said to the
day, "Sweet Day, you brought me no loving deed to give in payment for
the joy you gave."

But the day knew.

And on the morrow, the child Pippa went back to the mill and wound the
silk bobbins, and she was so full of gladness, she hummed with them all
day.

Know'st thou the land where citrons are in bloom,
The orange glows amidst a leafy gloom,
A gentle breeze from cloudless heaven blows
The myrtle still, and high the laurel grows?
Know'st thou it well?
Ah! there--Ah, there would I fare!

--_From Goethe's "Wilhelm Meister."_

[Illustration: _By Paul Kiessling_

MIGNON]

MIGNON.

Once there was a band of people who did nothing but wander about from
village to village, giving shows in the marketplaces. They had no homes
or gardens or fields, but the fathers earned the living by doing
remarkable things.

The little children played in the wagons, and the mothers cooked the
meals over the camp-fire when they stopped outside the village, and they
were quite happy after their own fashion. But often, when they passed
down the streets between the rows of thatched houses with children
playing in the yards, it all seemed to them something very beautiful
indeed, and they looked at it as long as it was possible.

The little girl of the strong man, and the little boy whose father
walked on his hands, often stood a long, long time looking through the
fence at children who had real hollyhocks in their yards, besides a
little green tree growing right out of the thatch on the top of the
roof; and in some of the houses, where the doors stood open, they could
see the most shining pans and kettles ranged about the chimney.

But whenever they made a beautiful playhouse, with all the leaves
brushed away and the rooms marked out with little sticks, they had to
leave it next day. This was very discouraging, of course. Even the
fathers and mothers grew discouraged sometimes, when they rode through
the beautiful country. It was so sweet and so fair, and somehow it
really seemed calling to them in a loving voice. But they always went on
and on, from place to place, and no one ever knew what the real