How Does Your Garden Grow?

       Here you see young Bill planting flower seeds. Emmaline is watering the little plants. Color Bill and Emmaline and the hedge with your paints or crayons. Make the hedge rather dark green, the air behind sky blue. The earth should be brown, a pale brown, the stepping stones gray, and the watering pot bright red or green. Cut all the slits on this page but do not take the page from your magazine. On the opposite page are the flowers that will bloom in the garden with a little help from you. Color them, using natural colors for the blossoms as you know them. Use several shades of green for your foliage to give variety to your picture. Cut out all these pieces on the heavy outlines. On the tab of each clump is a number corresponding to the number of the slit. Push the tab through the slit and paste it on the back of the page. Be sure to match the numbers or you may have a pansy growing from a hollyhock seed. Last of all cut out the picket fence and paste it in the lower corners. Do not paste the gate but leave it free to swing. Now you have a beautiful garden picture to display on a bedroom wall or inside of a scrapbook.

This garden needs plants!

These garden flowering plants need to be "planted" in the lawn
picture above. Cut them out, color them and paste them into 
the numbered spaces shown above.

Thumblelisa or Thumbelina

In the United States we know this story as the one with the tiny girl named "Thumbelina." 
However, in other countries she is sometimes called "Thumbelisa" thus, the reason for
the title graphic, this story is transcribed from a Danish version.

       There was once a woman who had the greatest longing for a little tiny child, but she had no idea where to get one; so she went to an old witch and said to her, "I do so long to have a little child, will you tell me where I can get one?"

        "Oh, we shall be able to manage that," said the witch. "Here is a barley corn for you; it is not at all the same kind as that which grows in the peasant's field, or with which chickens are fed; plant it in a flower pot and you will see what will appear." 

         "Thank you, oh, thank you!" said the woman, and she gave the witch twelve pennies, then went home and planted the barley corn, and a large, handsome flower sprang up at once; it looked exactly like a tulip, but the petals were tightly shut up, just as if they were still in bud. "That is a lovely flower," said the woman, and she kissed the pretty red and yellow petals; as she kissed it the flower burst open with a loud snap. It was a real tulip, you could see that; but right in the middle of the flower on the green stool sat a little tiny  girl, most lovely and delicate; she was not more than an inch in height, so she was called Thumbelina. 

        Her cradle was a smartly varnished walnut shell, with the blue petals of violets for a mattress and a rose-leaf to cover her; she slept in it at night, but during the day she played about on the table where the woman had placed a plate, sur- rounded by a wreath of flowers on the outer edge with their stalks in water. A large tulip petal floated on the water and on this little Thumbelina sat and sailed about from one side of the plate to the other; she had two white horsehairs for oars. It was a pretty sight. She could sing, too, with such delicacy and charm as was never heard before. 

        One night as she lay in her pretty bed, a great ugly toad hopped in at the window for there was a broken pane. Ugh! how hideous that great wet toad was; it hopped right down on to the table where Thumbelina lay fast asleep, under the red rose-leaf. 

        "Here is a lovely wife for my son," said the toad, and then she took up the walnut shell where Thumbelina slept and hopped away with it through the window, down into the garden. A great broad stream ran through it, but just at the edge it was swampy and muddy, and it was here that the toad lived with her son. Ugh ! how ugly and hideous he was too, exactly like his mother. "Koax, koax, brekke-ke-kex," that was all he had to say when he saw the lovely little girl in the walnut shell. 

         "Do not talk so loud or you will wake her," said the old toad; "she might escape us yet, for she is as light as thistle- dow^n! We will put her on one of the broad water-lily leaves out in the stream; it will be just like an island to her, she is so small and light. She won't be able to run away from there while we get the stateroom ready down under the mud, which you are to inhabit." 

        A great many water lilies grew in the stream, their broad green leaves looked as if they were floating on the surface of the water. The leaf which was farthest from the shore was also the biggest and to this one the old toad swam out with the walnut shell in which little Thumbelina lay. 

         The poor, tiny little creature woke up quite early in the morning, and when she saw where she was she began to cry most bitterly, for there was water on every side of the big green leaf, and she could not reach the land at any point. 

         The old toad sat in the mud decking out her abode with grasses and the buds of the yellow water lilies, so as to have it very nice for the new daughter-in-law, and then she swam out with her ugly son to the leaf where Thumbelina stood; they wanted to fetch her pretty bed to place it in the bridal chamber before they took her there. The old toad made a deep curtsey in the water before her, and said, "Here is my son, who is to be your husband, and you are to live together most comfortably down in the nmd." 

        "Koax, koax, brekke-ke-kex," that was all the son could say. 

        Then they took the pretty little bed and swam away with it, but Thumbelina sat quite alone on the green leaf and cried because she did not want to live with the ugly toad, or have her horrid son for a husband. The little fish which swam about in the water had no doubt seen the toad and heard what she said, so they stuck their heads up, wishing, I suppose, to see the little girl. As soon as they saw her, they were delighted with her, and were quite grieved to think that she was to go down to live with the ugly toad. No, that should never happen. They flocked together down in the water round about the green stem which held the leaf she stood upon, and gnawed at it with their teeth till it floated away down the stream carrying Thumbelina away where the toad could not follow her. 

        Thumbelina sailed past place after place, and the little birds in the bushes saw her and sang, "what a lovely little maid." The leaf with her on it floated farther and farther away and in this manner reached foreign lands.  

Thumbelina floats away from the toad...

       A pretty little white butterfly fluttered round and round her for some time and at last settled on the leaf, for it had taken quite a fancy to Thumbelina: she was so happy now, because the toad could not reach her and she was sailing through such lovely scenes; the sun shone on the water and it looked like liquid gold. Then she took her sash and tied one end round the butterfly, and the other she made fast to the leaf which went gliding on quicker and quicker, and she with it, for she was standing on the leaf.

        At this moment a big cockchafer came flying along; he caught sight of her and in an instant he fixed his claw round her slender waist and flew off with her up into a tree, but the green leaf floated down the stream and the butterfly with it, for he was tied to it and could not get loose. 

        Heavens! how frightened poor little Thumbelina was when the cockchafer carried her up into the tree, but she was most of all grieved about the pretty white butterfly which she had fastened to the leaf; if he could not succeed in getting loose he would be starved to death. 

        But the cockchafer cared nothing for that. He settled with her on the largest leaf on the tree, and fed her with honey from the flowers, and he said that she was lovely although she was not a bit like a chafer. Presently all the other chafers which lived in the tree came to visit them; they looked at Thumbelina and the young lady chafers twitched their feelers and said, "She has also got two legs, what a good effect it has." "She has no feelers," said another. "She is so slender in the waist, fie, she looks like a human being." "How ugly she is," said all the mother chafers, and yet little Thumbelina was so pretty. That was certainly also the opinion of the cockchafer who had captured her, but when all the others said she was ugly, he at last began to believe it, too, and would not have anything more to do with her, she might go wherever she liked! They flew down from the tree with her and placed her on a daisy, where she cried because she was so ugly that the chafers would She was so happy now, because the toad could not reach her and she was sailing through such lovely scenes  have nothing to do with her; and, after all, she was more beautiful than anything you could imagine, as delicate and trans- parent as the finest rose-leaf. 

        Poor little Thumbelina lived all the summer quite alone in the wood. She plaited a bed of grass for herself and hung it up under a big dock-leaf which sheltered her from the rain; she sucked the honey from the flowers for her food, and her drink was" the dew which lay on the leaves in the morning. In this way the summer and autumn passed, but then came the winter. All the birds which used to sing so sweetly to her flew away, the great dock-leaf under which she had lived shriveled up, leaving nothing but a dead yellow stalk, and she shivered with the cold, for her clothes were worn out; she was such a tiny creature, poor little Thumbelina, she certainly must be frozen to death. It began to snow and every snowflake which fell upon her was like a whole shovelful upon one of us, for we are big and she was only one inch in height. Then she wrapped herself up in a withered leaf, but that did not warm her much, she trembled with the cold. 

        Close to the wood in which she had been living lay a large cornfield, but the corn had long ago been carried away and nothing remained but the bare, dry stubble which stood up out of the frozen ground. The stubble was quite a forest for her to walk about in: oh, how she shook with the cold. Then she came to the door of a field-mouse's home. It was a little hole down under the stubble. The field-mouse lived so cosily and warm there, her whole room was full of corn, and she had a beautiful kitchen and larder besides. Poor Thumbelina stood just inside the door like any other poor beggar child and begged for a little piece of barley corn, for she had had nothing to eat for two whole days. 

        "You poor little thing," said the field-mouse, for she was at bottom a good old field-mouse. "Come into my warm room and dine with me." Then, as she took a fancy to Thumbelina, she said, "You may with pleasure stay with me for the winter, but you must keep my room clean and tidy and tell me stories, for I am very fond of them," and Thumbelina did what the good old field-mouse desired and was on the whole very comfortable. 

        "Now we shall soon have a visitor," said the field-mouse; "my neighbor generally comes to see me every week-day. He is even better housed than I am; his rooms are very large, and he wears a most beautiful black velvet coat; if only you could get him for husband you would indeed be well settled, but he can't see. You must tell him all the most beautiful stories you know." 

        But Thumbelina did not like this, and she would have nothing to say to the neighbor, for he was a mole. He came and paid a visit in his black velvet coat. He was very rich and wise, said the field-mouse, and his home was twenty times as large as hers; and he had much learning, but he did not like the sun or the beautiful flowers, in fact he spoke slightingly of them, for he had never seen them. Thumbelina had to sing to him, and she sang both "Fly away, cockchafer" and "A monk, he wandered through the meadow," then the mole fell in love with her because of her sweet voice, but he did not say anything, for he was of a discreet turn of mind. 

        He had just made a long tunnel through the ground from his house to theirs, and he gave the field-mouse and Thumbelina leave to walk in it whenever they liked. He told them not to be afraid of the dead bird which was lying in the passage. It was a whole bird with feathers and beak which had probably died quite recently at the beginning of the winter and was now entombed just where he had made his tunnel. 

        The mole took a piece of tinder-wood in his mouth, for that shines like fire in the dark, and walked in front of them to light them in the long dark passage; when they came to the place where the dead bird lay, the mole thrust his broad nose up to the roof and pushed the earth up so as to make a big hole through which the daylight shone. In the middle of the floor lay a dead swallow, with its pretty wings closely pressed to its sides, and the legs and head drawn in under the feathers; no doubt the poor bird had died of cold. Thumbelina was so sorry for it; she loved all the little birds, for they had twittered and sung so sweetly to her during the whole summer; but the mole kicked it with his short legs and said, "Now it will pipe no more! It must be a miserable fate to be born a little bird! Thank heaven! no child of mine can be a bird; a bird like that has nothing but its twitter and dies of hunger in the winter." 

        "Yes, as a sensible man, you may well say that," said the field-mouse. "What has a bird for all its twittering when the cold weather comes.  It has to hunger and freeze, but then it must cut a dash." 

        Thumbelina did not say anything, but when the others turned their backs to the bird, she stooped down and stroked aside the feathers which lay over its head, and kissed its closed eyes. "Perhaps it was this very bird which sang so sweetly to me in the summer," she thought; "what pleasure it gave me, the dear pretty bird."

        The mole now closed up the hole which let in the daylight and conducted the ladies to their home. Thumbelina could not sleep at all in the night, so she got up out of her bed and plaited a large handsome mat of hay and then she carried it down and spread it all over the dead bird, and laid some soft cotton wool which she had found in the field-mouse's room close round its sides, so that it might have a warm bed on the cold ground. 

        "Good-bye, you sweet little bird," said she, "good-bye, and thank you for your sweet song through the summer when all the trees were green and the sun shone warmly upon us." Then she laid her head close up to the bird's breast, but was quite startled at a sound, as if something was thumping inside it. It was the bird's heart. It was not dead but lay in a swoon, and now that it had been warmed it began to revive.  

The fairy prince renames Thumbelina, "May."

       In the autumn all the swallows fly away to warm countries, but if one happens to be belated, it feels the cold so much that it falls down like a dead thing, and remains lying where it falls till the snow covers it up. Thumbelina quite shook with fright, for the bird was very, very big beside her, who was only one inch high; but she gathered up her courage, packed the wool closer round the poor bird, and fetched a leaf of mint which she had herself for a, coverlet, and laid it over the bird's head. The next night she stole down again to it and found it alive but so feeble that it could only just open its eyes for a moment to look at Thumbelina who stood with a bit of tinder- wood in her hand, for she had no other lantern.

        "Many, many thanks, you sweet child," said the sick swallow to her; "you have warmed me beautifully. I shall soon have strength to fly out into the warm sun again." 

        "Oh!" said she, "it is so cold outside, it snows and freezes, stay in your warm bed, I will tend you." Then she brought water to the swallow in a leaf, and when it had drunk some it told her how it had torn its wing on a blackthorn bush, and therefore could not fly as fast as the other swallows which were taking flight then for the distant warm lands. At last it fell down on the ground, but after that it remembered nothing and did not in the least know how it had got into the tunnel.

        It stayed there all the winter, and Thumbelina was good to it and grew very fond of it. She did not tell either the mole or the field-mouse anything about it, for they did not like the poor unfortunate swallow. 

        As soon as the spring came and the warmth of the sun penetrated the ground, the swallow said good-bye to Thumbelina, who opened the hole which the mole had made above. The sun streamed in deliciously upon them, and the swallow asked if she would not go with him; she could sit upon his back and they would fly far away into the green wood. But Thumbelina knew that it would grieve the old field-mouse if she left her like that. 

       'No, I can't," said Thumbelina. 

        "Good-bye, good-bye, then, you kind pretty girl," said the swallow, and flew out into the sunshine. Thumbelina looked after him and her eyes filled with tears, for she was very fond of the poor swallow. 

        "Tweet, tweet," sang the bird, and flew into the green wood. 

        Thumbelina was very sad. She was not allowed to go out into the warm sunshine at all; the corn which was sown in the field near the field-mouse's house grew quite long; it was a thick forest for the poor little girl who was only an inch high. 

        "You must work at your trousseau this summer," said the field-mouse to her, for their neighbor the tiresome mole in his black velvet coat had asked her to marry him. "You shall have both woolen and linen, you shall have wherewith to clothe and cover yourself when you become the mole's wife." Thumbelina had to turn the distaff and the field-mouse hired four spiders to spin and weave day and night. The mole paid a visit every evening, and he was always saying that when the summer came to an end the sun would not shine nearly so warmly, now it burnt the ground as hard as a stone. Yes, when the summer was over he would celebrate his marriage; but Thumbelina was not at all pleased, for she did not care a bit for the tiresome mole. Every morning at sunrise and every evening at sunset she used to steal out to the door, and when the wind blew aside the tops of the cornstalks so that she could see the blue sky, she thought how bright and lovely it was out there, and wished so much to see the dear swallow again; but it never came back; no doubt it was a long way off, flying about in the beautiful green woods. 

        When the autumn came all Thumbelina's outfit was ready.    

        "In four weeks you must be married," said the field- mouse to her. But Thumbelina cried and said that she would not have the tiresome mole for a husband. 

        "Fiddle-dee-dee," said the field-mouse: "don't be obstinate or I shall bite you with my white tooth. You are going to have a splendid husband; the queen herself hasn't the equal of his black velvet coat; both his kitchen and his cellar are full. You should thank heaven for such a husband!" 

        So they were to be married; the mole had come to fetch Thumbelina; she was to live deep down under the ground with him, and never to go out into the warm sunshine, for he could not bear it. The poor child was very sad at the thought of bidding good-bye to the beautiful sun; while she had been with the field-mouse she had at least been allowed to look at it from the door. "Good-bye, you bright sun," she said as she stretched out her arms toward it and went a little way outside the field- mouse's house, for now the harvest was over and only the stubble remained. 

        "Good-bye, good-bye!" she said, and threw her tiny arms round a little red flower growing there. "Give my love to the dear swallow if you happen to see him." 

        "Tweet, tweet," she heard at this moment above her head. She looked up; it was the swallow just passing. As soon as it saw Thumbelina it was delighted; she told it how unwilling she was to have the ugly mole for a husband, and that she was to live deep down underground where the sun never shone. She could not help crying about it. 

        "The cold winter is coming," said the swallow, "and I am going to fly away to warm countries. Will you go with me? You can sit upon my back! Tie yourself on with your sash; then we will fly away from the ugly mole and his dark cavern, far away over the mountains to those warm countries where the sun shines with greater splendor than here, where it is always summer and there are heaps of flowers. Do fly with me, you sweet little Thumbelina, who saved my life when I lay frozen in the dark earthy passage." 

        "Yes, I will go with you," said Thumbelina, seating her- self on the bird's back, with her feet on its outspread wings.  She tied her band tightly to one of the strongest feathers, and then the swallow flew away, high up in the air above forests and lakes, high up above the biggest mountains where the snow never melts; and Thumbelina shivered in the cold air, but then she crept under the bird's warm feathers, and only stuck out her little head to look at the beautiful sights beneath her. 

        Then at last they reached the warm countries. The sun shone with a warmer glow than here; the sky was twice as high, and the most beautiful green and blue grapes grew in clusters on the banks and hedgerows. Oranges and lemons hung in the woods, which were fragrant with myrtles and sweet herbs, and beautiful children ran about the roads play- ing with the large gorgeously colored butterflies. But the swallow flew on and on, and the country grew more and more beautiful. Under magnificent green trees on the shores of the blue sea stood a dazzling white marble palace of ancient date; vines wreathed themselves round the stately pillars. At the head of these there were countless nests, and the swallow who carried Thumbelina lived in one of them. 

        "Here is my house," said the swallow; "but if you will choose one of the gorgeous flowers growing down there, I will place you in it, and you will live as happily as you can wish." 

        "That would be delightful," she said, and clapped her little hands.

        A great white marble column had fallen to the ground and lay there broken in three pieces, but between these the most lovely white flowers grew. The swallow flew down with Thumbelina and put her upon one of the broad leaves; what was her astonishment to find a little man in the middle of the flower, as bright and transparent as if he had been made of glass. He had a lovely golden crown upon his head and the most beautiful bright wings upon his shoulders; he was no bigger than Thumbelina. He was the angel of the flowers. There was a similar little man or woman in every flower, but he was the king of them all. 

        "Heavens, how beautiful he is," whispered Thumbelina to the swallow. The little prince was quite frightened by the swallow, for it was a perfect giant of a bird to him, he who was so small and delicate, but when he saw Thumbelina he was delighted; she was the very prettiest girl he had ever seen. He therefore took the golden crown off his own head and placed it on hers, and asked her name, and if she would be his wife, and then she would be queen of the flowers! Yes, he was certainly a very different kind of husband from the toad's son, or the mole with his black velvet coat. So she accepted the beautiful prince, and out of every flower stepped a little lady or a gentleman so lovely that it was a pleasure to look at them. Each one brought a gift to Thumbelina, but the best of all was a pair of pretty wings from a large white fly; they were fastened on to her back, and then she too could fly from flower to flower. All was then delight and happiness, but the swallow sat alone in his nest and sang to them as well as he could, for his heart was heavy, he was so fond of Thumbelina himself, and would have wished never to part from her.

        "You shall not be called Thumbelina," said the angel of the flower to her; "that is such an ugly name, and you are so pretty. "We will call you May."

        "Good-bye, good-bye," said the swallow, and flew away again from the warm countries, far away back to Denmark; there he had a little nest above the window where the man lived who wrote this story, and he sang his "tweet, tweet," to the man, and so we have the whole story. by Hans Christian Andersen.

• Watch the "Thumbelina" movie in English here at the GEM: Film Library
• Read "The Little Mermaid" another fairytale by Hans Christian Andersen

The Lonely White Mouse

Father mouse watches his eight children play.

       Once upon a time there were ten little gray mice-a father, a mother, and  eight  children.  They lived in the cellar under the house. And what good times they had playing Farmer in the Dell together at night on top of the tool box! 

The nice lady made the white
mouse a grey suit to play in.

       Upstairs in the house lived a little. white mouse. He was lonely because he had no one to play with. He belonged to a nice lady who kept him snowy clean and brushed his hair every morning. But that did not make him happy. He was the loneliest mouse in the world. 

       Sometimes at night he would creep down in the cellar and watch the little gray mice playing Tag in and out among the paint cans. But they did not ask him to play with them. And so he would come creeping back in the morning feeling even more lonely than before. 

       One night he caught a little gray mouse by his tail and held him and said to him, "Why don't you ever ask me to play?" 

       "Would you like to play?" asked the gray mouse in surprise. "We thought you were afraid that you would get your white fur dirty." 

       The white mouse looked sadly at his beautiful fur and said, "Must I always be lonely just because I am white?" 

       The gray mouse felt sorry for the white mouse. "Perhaps the lady would make you a gray suit to play in," he said. "Then you would be gray like the rest of us."

       "Just the thing!" said the white mouse, and he went scuttling upstairs to ask the lady. 

       The lady said, "Oh, yes! I will be glad to make you a suit!" She liked to sew doll clothes, but she had never thought of sewing mouse clothes. She made him the cunningest little gray suit that you could imagine! 

       After that the white mouse went down in the cellar every night. And what fun he had playing Follow the Leader with the gray mice in the coal bin! Of course, his face and hands were very dirty every morning. But they were easy to wash, you know. 

       The little white mouse was never lonely any more. by Marion LeBron.

Maid Maleen

The Prince marries his true bride.

       There was once a King who had a son who asked in marriage the daughter of a mighty King. She was called Maid Maleen, and was very beautiful. As her father wished to give her to another, the Prince was rejected. But since they both loved each other with all their hearts, they would not give each other up, and Maid Maleen said to her father, "I can and will take no other for my husband." 

        Then the King flew into a passion, and ordered a dark tower to be built, into which no ray of sunlight or moonlight should enter. When it was finished, he said, "Therein shall you be imprisoned for seven years, and then I will come and see if your perverse spirit is broken." 

        Meat and drink for the seven years were carried into the tower; and then she and her waiting-woman were led into it and walled up, and thus cut off from the sky and from the earth. There they sat in the darkness, and knew not when day or night began.

        The King's Son often went round and round the tower, and called their names, but no sound from without pierced through the thick walls. What else could they do but lament and complain? Meanwhile, the time passed, and by the small amount of food and drink left they knew that the seven years were coming to an end. They thought the moment of their deliverance was come. But no stroke of the hammer was heard, no stone fell out of the wall, and it seemed to Maid Maleen that her father had forgotten her. 

        As they had food for only a short time longer, and saw a miserable death awaiting them, Maid Maleen said, "We must try our last chance, and see if we can break through the wall." She took the bread-knife, and picked and bored at the mortar of a stone, and when she was tired, the waiting-maid took her turn. With great labor they succeeded in getting out one stone, then a second, and third. And when three days were over, the first ray of light fell on their darkness, and at last the opening was so large that they could look out. 

        The sky was blue, and a fresh breeze played on their faces; but how melancholy everything looked all around! Her father's castle lay in ruins, the town and the villages were, so far as could be seen, destroyed by fire, the fields far and wide laid to waste, and no human being was visible. 

        When the opening in the wall was large enough for them to slip through, the waiting-maid sprang down first, and then Maid Maleen followed. But where were they to go? The enemy had ravaged the whole kingdom, driven away the King, and slain all the inhabitants. 

        They wandered forth to seek another country, but nowhere did they find a shelter, or a human being to give them a mouthful of bread. Their need was so great that they were forced to appease their hunger with nettle-plants. When, after long journeying, they came into another country, they tried to get work everywhere. But wherever they knocked they were turned away, and no one would have pity on them.

        At last they arrived in a large city and went to the royal palace. There also they were ordered to go away, but at last the cook said that they might stay in the kitchen and be scullions. The King's Son in whose kingdom they were, was, however, the very man who had been betrothed to Maid Maleen. His father had chosen another Bride for him, whose face was as ugly as her heart was wicked.

        The wedding was fixed, and the girl had already arrived. Because of her great ugliness, however, she shut herself in her room, and allowed no one to see her, and Maid Maleen had to take her her meals from the kitchen. When the day came for the Bride and the Bridegroom to go to church, she was ashamed of her ugliness, and afraid that if she showed herself in the streets, she would be mocked and laughed at by the people. Then said she to Maid Maleen, "A great piece of luck has befallen you. I have sprained my foot, and cannot walk through the streets. You shall put on my wedding-clothes and take my place. A greater honor than that you cannot have."

       Maid Maleen, however, refused it, and said, "I wish for no honor which is not suitable for me." It was in vain, too, that the Bride offered her gold. At last she said angrly "If you do not obey me, it shall cost you your life. I have but to speak the word, and your head will lie at your feet." 

        Then she was forced to obey, and put on the Bride's magnificent clothes and all her jewels. When she entered the royal hall, every one was amazed at her great beauty, and the King said to his son, "This is the Bride whom I have chosen for you, and whom you must lead to church." 

        The Bridegroom was astonished, and thought, "She is like my Maid Maleen, and I should believe that it was she herself, but she has long been shut up in the tower or dead." He took her by the hand and led her to church. 

        On the way was a nettle-plant, and the maiden said: "Nettle-plant, Nettle-plant, Nettle-plant so small! What are you doing here, Alone by the wall if I have the time known, When unroasted, unboiled, I ate thee alone!" 

        "What are you saying?" asked the King's Son. 

        "Nothing," she replied, "I was only thinking of Maid Maleen." He was surprised that she knew about her, but kept silence. When they came to the 'foot-plank into the churchyard, she said: "Foot-bridge, break not, I am not the true Bride." 

        "What are you saying there?" asked the King's Son. 

        "Nothing," she replied, " I was only thinking of Maid Maleen." When they came to the church-door, she said once more: "Church-door, break not, I am not the true Bride." 

        "What are you saying there? " asked he.

        "Ah," she answered, " I was only thinking of Maid Maleen." 

        Then he took out a precious chain, put it round her neck, and fastened the clasp. Thereupon they entered the church, and the priest joined their hands together before the altar, and married them. He led her home, but she did not speak a single word the whole way. When they got back to the royal palace, she hurried into the Bride's chamber, put off the magnificent clothes and the jewels, dressed herself in her gray gown, and kept nothing but the jewel on her neck, which she had received from the Bridegroom. 

        When the night came, and the ugly Bride was to be led into the apartment of the King's Son, she let her veil fall over her face, that he might not observe the deception. As soon as every one had gone away, he said to her, "What did you say to the nettle-plant which was growing by the way-side?" 

        "To which nettle-plant? " asked she; "I don't talk to nettle- plants." 

        "If you did not do it, then you are not the true Bride," said he. 

        So she bethought herself, and said: "I must go my maid to see, Who keeps my secret thoughts for me." She went out and sought Maid Maleen. "Girl, what have you been saying to the nettle? " 

        "I said nothing but: "Nettle-plant, Nettle-plant, Nettle-plant so small! What are you doing here, Alone by the wall? I have the time known, When unroasted, unboiled, I ate thee alone!" 

        The ugly Bride ran back into the chamber, and said, " I know now what I said to the nettle," and she repeated the words which she had just heard. 

        "But what did you say to the foot-bridge when we went over it? " asked the King's Son. 

        "To the foot-bridge?" she answered. "I don't talk to foot-bridges." 

        "Then you are not the true Bride." She again said: "I must go my maid to see, Who keeps my secret thoughts for me," and ran out and found Maid Maleen. " Girl, what did you say to the foot-bridge?" 

        "I said nothing but: "Foot-bridge, break not, I am not the true Bride." 

        "That costs you your life!" cried the ugly Bride, but she hurried into the room, and said, "I know now what I said to the foot-bridge," and she repeated the words. 

        "But what did you say to the church-door? " 

        "To the church-door? " she replied; " I don't talk to church- doors." 

        " Then you are not the true Bride." 

        She went out and found Maid Maleen, and said, "Girl, what did you say to the church-door?"

        "I said nothing but: "Church-door, break not, I am not the true Bride." 

       "That will break your neck for you! "cried the Bride, and flew into a terrible passion, but she hastened back into the room, and said, "I know now what I said to the church-door," and she repeated the words." 

        But where have you the jewel which I gave you at the church-door?" 

        "What jewel?" she answered; "you did not give me any jewel." 

        "I myself put it round your neck, and I myself fastened it. If you do not know that, you are not the true Bride." He drew the veil from her face, and when he saw her ugliness, he sprang back terrified, and said, "How come you here? Who are you? " 

        "I am your betrothed Bride, but because I feared lest the people should mock me when they saw me out of doors, I commanded the scullery-maid to dress herself in my clothes, and to go to church instead of me." 

        "Where is the girl? " said he; "I want to see her, go and bring her here." She went out and told the servants that the scullery-maid was an impostor, and that they must take her out into the courtyard and strike off her head. The servants laid hold of Maid Maleen and wanted to drag her out, but she screamed so loudly for help, that the King's Son heard her voice, hurried out of his chamber and ordered them to set the maiden free. Lights were brought, and then he saw on her neck the gold chain which he had given her at the church-door. ' 'You are the true Bride," said he," who went with me to church. Come with me now to my room." When they were both alone, he said, "On the way to the church you did name Maid Maleen, who was my betrothed Bride. If I could believe it possible, I should think she was standing before me — you are like her in every respect." 

        She answered, "I am Maid Maleen, who for your sake was imprisoned seven years in the darkness, who suffered hunger and thirst, and has lived so long in want and poverty. Today, however, the sun is shining on me once more. I was married to you in the church, and I am your lawful wife." 

        Then they kissed each other, and were happy all the days of their lives. The false Bride was rewarded for what she had done by having her head cut off. The tower in which Maid Maleen had been imprisoned remained standing for a long time, and when the children passed by it, they sang:

 

"Eling, klang, gloria.

 Who sits within this tower? 

 A King's Daughter, she sits within, 

 A sight of her I cannot win, 

 The wall it will not break, 

 The stone cannot be pierced. 

 Little Hans, with your coat so gay, 

 Follow me, follow me, 

 fast as you may.

Tiny Post Office Printables

        To make "priority mail" or U. S. "air mail envelopes" fold and wrap a message on a separate piece of doll-sized stationary. Then slip this inside a white pocket folded using decorative or plain white typing paper. Print out the covers for either kind of mail and paste them onto the envelope. Fill out the address and send it away through the Dolly Post!

Priority Express Mail Envelope Covers for 18 inch doll post office supply.

Priority Express Mail Envelope Covers for
12 inch doll post office supply.

U. S. Airmail envelope tops for 18 inch doll post office play.

U. S. Airmail envelope tops for 12 inch
 doll post office play.

Johnny Mouse and The Wishing Stick

Johnny Mouse scolds the Woozgoozle for eating baby chics.

        Johnny Mouse was a cute, little tiny mouse. He lived with Gran’ma and Gran’pa Mouse in a little cigar-box house. In the little cigar-box house there was a tiny little kitchen where Gran’ma Mouse cooked nice things for Gran’pa and Johnny Mouse. Gran’ma and Gran’pa and Johnny Mouse also ate in the kitchen at a tiny table, for the little cigar-box house did not have a dining-room. 

        Then there was a bedroom and a living-room in the tiny cigar-box house. The bedroom was where Gran’ma and Gran’pa and Johnny Mouse slept at night. There were three little soft white beds which Gran’pa Mouse had made out of pasteboard boxes. One for Gran-ma, one for Gran’pa and one for Johnny Mouse.

        The living room was the largest room in the little cigar-box house, but that was quite small. Here of evenings Gran’ma sat and knitted while Gran’pa read the news and smoked his little pipe, or here they sat and visited with their friends. The little living-room contained two or three little rocking chairs, a couch, a center table with tiny lamp upon it, and a lovely organ. No one played upon the organ tor it was only a picture which Gran’ma had clipped from a large magazine and pasted upon the wall. 

        But from across the little Mouse living-room it looked like a real organ, for it was beautifully colored. All around the little cigar-box house was a tiny picket fence to keep the mischievous bug boys out of Gran’pa Mouse’s garden. 

        The fence was made out of burnt matches which Gran’pa and Johnny Mouse had gathered and carried there in a little pasteboard wheelbarrow. There was also a tiny well back of the house, near the kitchen door and the bucket was made from an acorn.

Johnny Mouse pulled out two of Gran'ma's lovely sugared
doughnuts. "There!" he said, "eat those."

        Gran’pa and Johnny were working in the garden, and every once in a while Gran'pa and Johnny Mouse wiggled their pink noses and looked toward the kitchen. 

        “Did Gran’ma call us?" Johnny Mouse finally asked. 

        “I believe she did!’ Gran’pa Mouse laughed, as he wiggled his nose. 

        “No, I did not call you!” Gran’ma said, when Johnny and Gran’pa Mouse looked in the kitchen door. She knew they had scented the lovely doughnuts she was cooking. 

        “Have you finished weeding the garden?” Gran’ma asked. 

        “It is all finished!” said Gran’pa Mouse. 

        “Then let’s have a picnic!” Gran’ma said, as she took the last of the doughnuts out of the kettle and rolled them in sugar. 

        Gran’pa drew an acorn bucket full of water from the little well and he and Johnny Mouse washed their faces and hands. Gran’ma Mouse packed a little basket full of doughnuts and other things and put on her pretty little bonnet. Johnny carried the little basket and ran ahead down the path through the woods. 

        Soon Gran’ma and Gran’pa and Johnny Mouse came to Chicky Town and there they found all the Chickies crying. 

        “Dear me! Why do you cry?” Gran’ma and Gran'pa and Johnny Mouse asked them.

        “We are crying because this is the day the Woozgoozle is to come and eat some of us!” said a large Rooster Chicky. “The Woozgoozle comes once a week, carries.two or three of us to his cave and eats us!” 

        “But he has no right to do that!” said Gran’ma, as she stamped her little foot. 

        “Here he comes now!” cried all the Chickies, as they began running this way and that and hurrying into their houses. 

        Down the path Gran’ma and Gran’pa and Johnny Mouse could hear the Woozgoozle coming. “Kerlumpity, kerlumpity!’ And presently he came to the first Chicky house. There he found two fat Chickies, and putting them into a sack he turned back up the road. 

        When the Woozgoozle left, all the Chickies came out of their houses and squawked and cackled until ‘Gran’ ma and Gran’pa and Johnny Mouse had to hold their hands over their ears. 

        Gran’ma and Gran’pa and Johnny Mouse sadly left Chicky Town and went down the road in the very same direction the Woozgoozle had taken. 

        Johnny Mouse ran ahead, and soon beside the path, lying upon a stone, fast asleep, he saw the Woozgoozle. Johnny waited quietly until Gran’ma and Gran’pa Mouse came up to him. “He has eaten the Chickies!’ Johnny said. Sure enough feathers were scattered all about. 

        Johnny Mouse climbed upon the stone and bit the Wooz- goozle upon his heel. 

        “Wow! the Woozgoozle cried as he sat up and rubbed his eves. “A bee must have stung me!’ Then seeing Johnny Mouse standing there he asked, “Did you do that?”

        “Yes!” said Johnny Mouse. “You should be ashamed, eating the Chickies! What if some one should eat up your mother or your father or someone whom you loved? That wouldn't be very nice, would it?”

        The Woozgoozle rubbed his chin thoughtfully. “I hadn't thought of that! All I thought of was how hungry | was. I'm so hungry now I'll have to get some more Chickies !"

       "Gran’ma and Gran'pa Mouse then climbed upon the rock beside Johnny. “No, you won't!” said Gran’pa Mouse. “It is wrong for you to take the Chickies away from one another.” 

        “But I must eat something!” sighed the Woozgoozle. 

        Johnny House reached into his basket and pulled out two of Gran'ma’s lovely sugared doughnuts. “There!” he said, ‘eat those."

        “My! Aren't they good?” cried the Woozgoozle. ‘They are ever so much better than Chickies! Yum, yum!" 

        “Give him some more, Johnny!” said Gran’pa Mouse. 

        So the Woozgoozle was given all of the picnic lunch to eat: sixteen doughnuts, nine cream puffs and a lemon pie.

        “Tell me where you find these things to eat and I'll promise never to eat another Chicky!” said the Woozgoozle. 

        “Gran’ma makes them!” said Johnny Mouse. 

        “Isn't that strange? I never knew any one could make anything to eat. I thought one had to catch things!” 

        “Wait until you taste ice-cream!” said Johnny Mouse. “And candy! Gran’ma makes everything like that, and they are better to eat than doughnuts and pie!"

        “If that is true, I am, indeed, sorry that I ever ate any of the Chickies,” said the Woozgoozle. ‘After this IT will never bother them again!"

        “You must come home with us,” Gran’ma Mouse said, “and I will teach you how to make doughnuts and other nice things to eat.”

        This pleased the Woozgoozle very much.

        Now, Gran’ma and Gran’pa and Johnny Mouse were very hungry by this time, so they decided they would return home. 

        When they came to Chicky Town all the Chickies began cackling when they saw the Woozgoozle, but Gran’ma and Gran’pa and Johnny Mouse told them the Woozgoozle had promised never to eat any of them again and so the Chickies were very happy. 

        Gran’ma and Gran‘pa and Johnny Mouse and the Woozgoozle finally reached the little cigar-box house and Gran’ma got supper while Gran'pa set the table and Johnny Mouse and the Woozgoozle washed their faces and hands and brushed their hair. 

        Then they sat down at the table. It was hard to get the Woozgoozle to eat anything except doughnuts and pie and cream puffs, for he liked them very much and did not know (like a good many children) that too many sweets are apt to give one a stomach-ache. 

        Then, when supper was over, and the dishes washed and wiped, Johnny showed the Woozgoozle his scrapbook with pretty pictures in it, until time for bed. 

        “Well!” said Gran’pa, as he took off his shoes and put on his house slippers, “it turned out a delightful picnic after all.” 

        And Gran’ma Mouse, thinking of the kindness they had done for Chicky Town, sighed contentedly, and replied: 

        “Yes, indeed, Gran’pa, and I feel that the Woozgoozle from now on will be a very kindly creature!’ And so he proved to be as you shall soon learn. story and pictures by Johnny Gruelle

The Woozgoozle in our story above is a pint sized "least weasel." 

by Wildlife Wednesday segment here describes his true 

nature and habitat.

Woverine Dollhouses from 1974

        The Town and Country metal doll house manufactured in 1974 was a modern contemporary doll house with 6 completely furnished rooms. Sturdy steel colorfully decorated inside and out. Plastic furniture was of the latest modern design. The windows and door opened and were made of plastic. The entire house was 17 12" tall and 12 inches deep. Each house had photolithography details with brilliant color printed on the steel walls. 

Front and back sides of doll houses photographed in detail above and below.

       The Colonial version also included roof made with rugged hardboard. It came lithographed on both the interior and exterior. It's modern furnishings were perfectly scaled for each of it's six rooms as well. It's windows were made with three dimensional plastic  that could be opened and shut just like the door. Every house from Woverine came packed flat but could be easily constructed with nuts and bolts.

products for children manufactured by Woverine, 1974

       The Colonial Mansion doll house came with a two car garage and the decorated interior was designed and colorized after traditional Early American homes. This doll house also included a cupola with a moving weather vane.
       Woverine also made a service station to scale that same year modeled after Texaco Colonial service stations. This station was a fully lithographed steel building with a platform. All of the windows and doors opened and shut. There were two gas pumps, one air pump, two plastic cars and one tow truck included.

22 Facts About Child Life in The American Colonies

This boy was painted with his pet, a flying 
squirrel, by John Singleton Copley in 1765.

       Below are 22 facts about how children lived in the American colonies.

1. Children under six years of age wore "puddings" around their waists and heads. Puddings were stuffed pillows shaped to fit around the waist or head. If a baby fell, the pillow would cushion that fall and hopefully prevent accidents that might permanently damage the child.
2. Children wore fashions that looked just like their parents clothing only in miniature, once they turned six years old.
3. Children's clothing was sewn by their family members or someone in their own community. Those clothes were made of wool, linen or cotton.
4. Adults dyed the fabric used to make clothing for their family with berries, roots or flowers
5. Little girls learned to knit and spin when they were quite young and boys learned to weave.
6. Girls kept their hair covered most of the time with different types of hats and scarves. 
7. Young boys kept their hair long, just like the girls did. However, they wore wigs if they were not doing farm work or if they were living and working in town!
8. Native Americans taught colonists how to survive and thrive by planting and harvesting corn, maple syrup, pumpkins and squash. The colonists supplemented their diets with fish, wild game, pigs, eggs and chickens. Immigrants and ship captains brought beans and seeds for planting in America on their journeys to the colonies as well.
9. In colonial times, children could not always find fresh water; they did not have indoor plumbing and very often did not have wells near their homes. So they drank hard cider and beer. But these alcoholic drinks, although fermented, did not contain high percentages of alcohol; these liquids were similar to those drank in Bible times by ordinary folk.  The fermentation process killed bacteria but it did not include methods of boiling/aging which give modern alcohol higher levels of fermentation. The colonists gave children beers/ciders that were consumed quickly and daily. In the Bible this drink is called "shekhar."
10. Children had to learn many table manners in colonial America. As a general rule if a child came to the same table the adult sat at, they were expected not to talk and to stand and to eat with their fingers!
11. Your dinner plate was made of wood and called a "trencher." You would have to share all of the food put on to it with your siblings. Children were not given their very own plates of food unless they were alone without brothers and sisters.
12. Boys and girls attended early education schools together. Their first school was called a "Dame" school. It was the place were both genders would learn to read and write from a hornbook. Their teacher was usually a woman. 
13. After colonial children finished Dame school, the boys would continue on in more advanced classes without the girls. Girls were then taught or to run a household, sew, spin, cook and clean at home. 
14. A wealthy family may choose to send their 16 year old daughter to a finishing school. In that kind of school girls learned how to embroider and embellish fabrics, how to play instruments (usually a harpsichord or English guitar), how to behave socially in order to marry a wealthy husband and how to administer accounts sometimes within the context of a home. 
15. The law in most American colonies dictated that boys had to attend school. These schools were not renowned for their comforts. Most of them had one small room, a fireplace and hard wooden benches. Few were comfortable. These schools were called ''grammar'' schools.
16. In grammar schools, boys would study Latin, Math and Literature. Then if they had no plans to become a lawyer, a clergyman, or enter into commerce, they would leave this school at the age of 10-14 to become an apprentice to a blacksmith or a carpenter etc...
17. Some boys would opt to go to sea as a cabin boy. Onboard ships they would run errands, handle the sails, do menial labor like swab the decks and carry gunpowder during battles at sea.
18. Boys from wealthy colonial families would go to college to learn a important trade for society. Many of them would travel to Europe to attend a private college if their parents could afford to send them. The earliest colonial colleges in America included Harvard and William & Mary.
19. Whenever children became sick in those days, they would be put to bed in a warm place. They would receive some kind of medicine made from herbs either by their mother or a local establishment called an "apothecary.''
20. If a child was out after dark they could very well be disciplined by the town's "watchman." The town watchman did more than just keep the public informed of the time. He watched over the streets at night and kept children at home safe with their parents too.
21. On Sundays, colonials attended either a town meetinghouse or a church to hear sermons. Children attended these activities with their parents. Sometimes children lived too far away to go to a church on Sundays. Instead, they would read and study the Bible at home with their parents.
22. Children did not play as much as you do today. They had less time for it because they helped their parents with chores. When they did play, the loved social games like tag and blind-man's buff. They also loved singing games using English rhymes and played with simple toys like hoops and sticks. Boys had pocket knives for whittling and sling shots for shooting rocks at targets; girls had dolls for dressing and pretending with too. 

Read more about Horn books

Visit The Colonial American Girl Doll Index

Learn about the wonderful foods Native Americans taught all of us how to grow!