lls and the
valleys, the hedges and hollows were white. The paths were all hidden,
and there were drifts like mountains on the king's highway. The
harper stumbled and the harper fell, but he would not turn back; and
as he traveled he met the wind.

"Brother Harper, turn, I pray;
Do not journey on to-day,"

sang the wind, but the harper would not heed.

"Snows may fall and winds may blow, but I must go on," he said, "for I
have a wife and a child and a little brown dog; and I have promised
them to be at home by Christmas day to eat my share of the Christmas
pudding and sing the Christmas songs by my own fireside."

Then the wind blew an icy blast. The snow froze on the ground and the
water froze in the rivers. The harper's breath froze in the air, and
icicles as long as the king's sword hung from the rocks on the king's
highway. The harper shivered and the harper shook, but he would not
turn back; and by and by he came to the forest that lay between him
and his home.

The trees of the forest were creaking and bending in the wind, and
every one of them seemed to say:

"Darkness gathers, night is near;
Harper, stop! Don't venture here."

But the harper would not stop. "Snows may fall, winds may blow, and
night may come, but I have promised to be at home by Christmas day to
eat my share of the Christmas pudding and sing the Christmas songs by
my own fireside. I must go on."

And on he went till the last glimmer of daylight faded, and there was
darkness everywhere. But the harper was not afraid of the dark.

"If I cannot see I can sing," said he, and he sang in the forest
joyously:

"Sing glory, glory, glory!
And bless God's holy name;
For 'twas on Christmas morning,
The little Jesus came.

"He wore no robes; no crown of gold
Was on His head that morn;
But herald angels sang for joy,
To tell a King was born."

[Illustration: THE HARPER WAS HAPPIER THAN A KING AS HE SAT BY HIS OWN
FIRESIDE.]

The snow ceased its falling, the wind ceased its blowing, the trees of
the forest bowed down to listen, and, lo! dear children, as he sang
the darkness turned to wondrous light, and close at hand the harper
saw the open doorway of his home.

The wife and the child and the little brown dog were watching and
waiting, and they welcomed the harper with great joy. The holly
berries were red in the Christmas wreaths; their Christmas tree was a
young green pine; the