&&000 CANADIAN SCHOOLBOOKS                                                                    CA605.TXT
GRADE 5, 1960S
Sampled in Toronto by DPH, 1st edited by dph 19 dec 2003
re-edited 21 June 2005


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Would they miss her at dinnertime? They would never dream of looking for her here! Weakly
she sat down on the box of old shoes.
Then she heard a sound. Behind the little door at the end of the dark closet-a moaning cry. She
almost screamed. She stuffed the black shawl into her mouth. Why didn't someone open the
door? Why didn't they find her?
The crying was louder now. It sounded like a baby, a .sick baby! Then someone began to sing in
a low voice that sounded like =BlackCindy's when she crooned to herself. But the wails grew
louder still, and the singer made soft, shushing sounds. Prudence sat up on the box of shoes.. It
was a colored person in there, like those who worked for =Grandmother. And a sick baby !
=Mother
always said that =Prudence could quiet a crying baby better than anyone else
She crept out from behind the black shawl and tiptoed down to the secret door. Slowly she lifted
the paisley shawl that covered it. She tapped softly on the door. The crooning voice stopped
suddenly but the baby kept on crying. Then a frightened, half whispered voice said,
"Who's is that?"
"It's me, =Prudence ! I live here," she answered bravely although  her heart was pounding in her
throat. "Is your baby sick?" There was no answer but the baby's cries stopped as though someone
had smothered them. =Prudence pried at the door with her fingernails. It did not open. Her
fingers found a bolt and slid it back. She squeezed through the narrow little door, a lump of terror
in her throat. A stub of candle, stuck in a potato, shed a flickering light. She saw a black mother
bending over the baby in her lap, protecting it like a wild thing. =Prudence went to the baby and
touched him. "He's cold," she said. The mother did not answer but crouched farther over the
shaking baby. Behind her were two dim figures. They sat still in the shadows, their eyes wide and
white with fear. 


it off, leaf by leaf, and give it to my poor; the living always think that gold can make them
happy."
Leaf after leaf of the fine gold the Swallow picked off, till the =HappyPrince looked quite dull
and grey. Leaf after leaf of the fine gold he brought to the poor, and the children's faces grew
rosier, and they laughed and played games in the streets. "We have bread now ! " they cried.
Then the snow came, and after the snow came the frost. The streets looked as if they were made
of silver, they were so bright and glistening; long icicles like crystal daggers hung down from the
eaves of the houses, everybody went about in furs, and the little boys wore scarlet caps and
skated on the ice.
The poor little =Swallow grew colder and colder, but he would not leave the =Prince, he loved
him too well. He picked up crumbs outside the baker's door when the baker was not looking, and
tried to keep himself warm by flapping his wings.
But at last he knew that he was going to die. He had just enough strength to fly up to the
=Prince's
shoulder once more. "Goodbye, dear =Prince!" he murmured, "will you let me kiss your hand?"
"I am glad that you are going to =Egypt at last, little =Swallow,"  said the =Prince, "you have
stayed toot long here; but you must kiss me on the lips, for I love you."
"It is not to =Egypt that I am going," said the =Swallow. "I am going to the =HouseofDeath.
Death is the brother of Sleep, is he not?"
And he kissed the =HappyPrince on the lips, and fell down dead at his feet.
At that moment a curious crack sounded inside the statue, as if something had broken. The fact is
that the leaden heart had snapped right in two. It certainly was a dreadfully hard frost.



Early the next morning the Mayor was walking in the square below in company with the Town
Councillors. As they passed the entrance. He did not want to let her in at first. He thought she
was just a person. But when she showed him her costume, he opened the door just wide enough
for her. The bear costume was as good as a password.
The toe dancer was doing the split. Jane tiptoed up the three steps and went backstage,
wondering what would happen now. The show always goes on. There was some comfort in that
thought. Somehow, someone would fix her head. Or possibly while she was gone her middle
head had been found. She hoped she would not have to act with her head bare.
Miss =Chichester snatched her.
"Oh, there you are =Jane ! Hop into your costume, dear." "I'm in it," said =Jane. "But I can't find
my middle bear head." "Heavens! " said Miss =Chichester, holding her own head. "What
else will go wrong?"
=Jane looked at her in surprise. What else had gone wrong? Had others lost worse than their
heads?
"Where's the janitor?" Miss =Chichester asked. "Maybe he let his grandchildren borrow it."
=Jane knew he hadn't, but she couldn't tell Miss =Chichester for she had already flown off. And
then =Janey had an idea.
"I know what," she said to =Joey. "Pin me together." And she pulled the neck part of her costume
up over her head. =Joey pinned it with two safety pins, and he cut two holes for her eyes. This
costume was not comfortable now. Pulling it up and pinning it this way lifted =Jane's arms so she
had trouble making them hang down the way she thought a bear's should. However, at any rate,
she now had a bear head of sorts.
"Do I look like a bear?" she asked =Rufus.
"You look like a brown ghost," =Rufus replied.
"Don't you worry," said =Sylvie, coming up. "You look like a
very nice little animal."



see the Royal =Goldsmith. He had the =Royal =Goldsmith make a tiny round golden moon just a
little smaller than the thumbnail of the Princess =Lenore. Then he had him string it on a golden
chain so the =Princess could wear it around her neck.
"What is this thing I have made?" asked the =Royal =Goldsmith when he had finished it.
"You have made the moon," said the =CourtJester. "That is the moon."
"But the moon," said the =RoyalGoldsmith, "is =500'000 miles away and is made of bronze and
is round like a marble."
"That's what you think," said the =CourtJester as he went away with the moon.
The =CourtJester took the moon to the Princess -Lenore, and she was overjoyed. The next day
she was well again and could get up and go out in the gardens to play.
But the King's worries were not yet over. He knew that the moon would shine in the sky again
that night, and he did not want the Princess =Lenore to see it. If she did, she would know that the
moon she wore on a chain around her neck was not the real moon.
So the King sent for the =LordHighChamberlain and said, "We must keep the Princess =Lenore
from seeing the moon when it shines in the sky tonight. Think of something!"
The =LordHighChamberlain tapped his forehead with his fingers thoughtfully and said, "I know
just the thing. We can make some dark glasses for the Princess =Lenore. We can make them so
dark that she will not be able to see anything at all through them. Then she will not be able to see
the moon when it shines in the sky."
This made the =King very angry, and he shook his head from side to side. "If she wore dark
glasses, she would bump into things," he said, "and then she would be ill again." So he sent the
=LordHighChamberlain away and called the =RoyalWizard.
"We must hide the moon," said the =King, "so that the Princess =Lenore.


Even as he thought these thoughts his mind was uneasily examining the signs in the sky. Low in
the east was a gathering of storm clouds. They were moving towards the boat, but slowly. He
estimated three or four hours before it became dangerous. Two hours to leave the lines down,
another hour to row home and they could haul the boat up safely and still have time to clean the
catch before the storm broke. His father always rowed home. The boy glanced at the powerful
shoulders of his father, hunched in an effort to light his pipe in the strong winds, and felt a flicker
of pride and a deep feeling of security.
They waited patiently, saying little, doing nothing but thinking about the lines lying deep below
the surface of the sea. If the hooks were full they could manage for another week. The price the
fish brought would bring them another bag of potatoes, a bit of tea, some flour. There would be
enough to eat for a few days. They must buy some new lines, too, because the old one was
getting worn. His father had spliced it in so many small lengths that it sometimes seemed to be
one long splice from end to end.
If the hooks came up empty, the boy thought wryly, there would be no dinner and no breakfast
before they fished tomorrow.
Almost an echo to his thoughts, his father's voice said, "Let's have a look at the line. That storm
is coming on fast."
The boy held the boat steady with his oars, as the man began to haul the line slowly up from the
deep. The first three hooks came in empty; even the bait was gone. They were coiled neatly into
the tub. The fourth hook brought a jumping, silvery fish to the side of the boat where the man
grabbed it under the gills and removed the hook. Tossing the fish to the floorboards of the boat
he said, "Dinner! " From then on almost every hook was loaded and the bottom of the boat was
soon covered with the smooth forms slithering over each other, jerking, and finally lying still,
eyes staring at the sky.
The boy thought, "Soon =Dad will take the oars and, I can begin
to clean the catch on the way home." He knew the gulls would then



One day he was walking to the market at =Killybegs. Suddenly he stopped short. He saw a
marvelous sight-a great and lovely ship sailing right over the fields towards him as though it
were on water. Presently =Dyeerrnud saw that a =RedChampion was at the helm. He called out,
and the helmsman brought the ship about and tied it to an oak.
"What journey are you on and where are you going?" asked the =RedChampion.
"I seek a ship like yours," replied =DyeerrnudUlta when he was able to speak above his
excitement.
"Pray why do you need a ship like mine?" inquired the =RedChampion.
So =Dyeermud explained to him the wish of his heart.
"Come with me as a shipmate," said the =RedMan, "and give me what you will when your wish
comes true."   
"Very well," was =Dyeermud's answer. "I will give you what is right when the time comes." And
they sailed away together.
They came to =Conlun, a mile above =Killybegs. In a field beside a road, they saw twelve men
cutting sod and a thirteenth man eating every.sod as fast as the twelve could cut it. =Dyeermud
wondered at the sight, and when the ship carne alongside the sod-diggers he asked the name of
the thirteenth man. "My name is =Sod-Eater," the man replied with his mouth full. "Because I
cannot get enough to eat, I must eat sods to fill my empty stomach."
"Will you come with us?" asked the Red Champion. "What will you give me if I do?"
"Five pieces of gold at the journey's end," was the reply. "That will be payment enough," and
=Sod-Eater joined them in the ship.
They sailed on until they came to the =HowlingRiver, about a mile below =Dunkineely, and there
they saw a man blowing mightily, but he had a plug in one nostril.



face old =TildyThomas really had. Soon she began to ask him why he was unhappy and he told
her.
"=Mmm, she said, nodding.
"I don't want Grandfather to think I'm a fool!" =Martin cried out, flushing at the very word.
"Don't you worry," Miss =Tildy said. Things change and change. They aren't today what they
were yesterday or will be tomorrow. As I see it, keep your mind on thinking that you want to be a
good orchard man like your grandpa, and some day things will be all right."
"Are you sure?" =Martin asked anxiously.
"Certain," said old =Tildy with such force that he felt comforted. "I've got troubles, too," she
went on. "I get lonely."
"Do you?" =Martin asked eagerly. "So do I. Would you like
me to bring over some of my books? They help loneliness a lot. And
we could talk them over together."
"I'd like it very much," said the old woman.
After that =Martin and =TildyThomas became great friends. The boy often went over to see her
and helped her to do the things she couldn't do, like sweeping down the cobwebs from the
corners of the ceiling and beating the rugs. He even tugged up most of the junipers around the
house.
"I do hate to see them in the hay," she said. "No one cuts the hay any more. Still it's no place for
junipers."
Then she would give him tea and cookies or chocolate cake, and they would talk about the books
he had brought here. Helping =Tildy was different from working at home. Tildy needed help. At
home Grandfather and Grandmother could get along faster if =Martin weren't in their way at all,
but as the weeks went on the boy learned all sorts of things in helping =Tildy. Even his
grandfather said once or twice, "You're getting handy about the place, =Martin," but still the old
man couldn't quite forget about the ladder.


mamma had returned the baby to the =Indians, they might do the same with him someday.
=LittleNichet began feeling sorrier than ever for himself. He decided to return to the =Indians of
his own free will. How his parents would cry when they found he was gone ! They would come
galloping to the =Indian village. They would take him home again-and his baby sister too.
He packed his nightshirt and his willow whistle and his lynx tail into a sack and set out for the
Indian village once more. He walked all the way down the river road. He followed the trail to the
houses that were like half-melons.
"I have come back to stay with my little sister," =Nichet told one of the =Indians.
Then the =Indians were as worried as the =LeBlancs had been.
"If we keep you here," said one of them, "your papa will think that we have stolen you. He will
burn down our lodges."
=LittleNichet refused to leave. "I want to stay here and be an =Indian like my little sister," he
said.
The =Indians gathered together and talked their =micmac talk, which =Nichet could not
understand. Then one of them turned to him.
"Can you shoot a bow and arrow?" he asked in =Nichet's talk. "No," said little =Nichet.
"Can you skin a moose?"
"No," said little =Nichet.
"Can you build a birch canoe?"
"No," said little =Nichet.
"Then you cannot stay with us," said the brave. "An =Indian must be able to do all those things."
So little =Nichet sadly turned and started away. But another =Indian carne running to him with
something furry in his hands.
"A gift for you," said the Indian. "A trade for the baby you returned to us."



He found his nose twitching, like a hungry animal sniffing. As the body baked, he turned it from
side to side with a stick. On another pointed stick, he toasted the kidneys and liver. These tid-bits
were done first, and he popped a kidney, hot and good, into his mouth. He had never been so
ravenous in his life. The other followed, and the liver. The rabbit seemed to be done now. He
took it off the fire and scraped the ash from it with his knife. A hind leg completed his breakfast,
and it was the best meal he had ever eaten.
"Townee, eh?" he shouted in triumph. A kookaburra laughed happily with him.
=Martin hung the rest of the carcass up in the tree, wrapping it carefully in his shirt so that the
flies couldn't get at it. The shirt wasn't very clean, but details like that didn't matter any more.
Then he washed the grease off his hands at the spring, using mud for soap. When the spring had
cleared, he had another drink, and felt equal to anything-even to finding the =Yedda River.
He was about to gather his things together and set off, when he paused suddenly, sat down, and
really thought. Yesterday had taught him that just imagining you knew the way wasn't any use
when you were bushed. A whole day's tramping might only take you farther into the wilderness.
He might never find the =Yedda or the =Badger. He mightn't have the luck to chance on another
spring just when he wanted it. When the rabbit was done, he would be out of food. He might be
able to wing a parrot or some other bird with a stone. But that wasn't so easy as it sounded. He'd
tried, for fun, in the past and he knew.
What was the right thing to do? He puzzled over the problem, which was the greatest he had ever
had to face. He knew quite well that it was, really and truly, a matter of life and death.
The solution came quite suddenly. Stay put! While he wandered on blindly, he would be much
harder to find than the smallest needle in the greatest haystack. But if he stayed where he was,
with.



 She pushed again. Softly she coaxed. The great bull, past his first fright now, was in fact
wondering why he had started to run. Calmed for the moment by her voice, he began to get an
idea through his slow, stupid old brain.
Desperately she took a new grip on =Biri and steadied herself on the bull's back. Knowing that
the torrent of rain was not far off, she tried again. This time =Moy obeyed, for he turned to the
right. Then, more and more, he changed the course of the runaway herd. They were running now
where the waterway spread out to a firm shallow beach. His pace slowed. The wind was rising
again. A sharp spatter of rain stung =Rimfa's back. There was a sudden blinding flash of
lightning and immediately a great crash of thunder seemed to split the sky apart.
=Moy tore forward again, but it was no longer in a straight line. He was turning to the right, and
the herd, following as Always, turned with him. Soon they were brought up against the sandy
wide banks of the watercourse, and began milling in a circle. Slower and slower they went, with
=Rimfa, =Moy, and =Biri at the center.
The stampede was over. Rain was coming in torrents, but the big cattle were used to rain. Flash
after flash of lightning made an almost continuous flare across the sky. By this light, =Rimfa,
breathless and shaken, slid to the ground and stood leaning for a moment against =Moy's soaked
flank. Her knees were shaking from the effort and excitement, but there was also a distinct
feeling of triumph. No =Fulani head boy of the village could have done better. Nor perhaps as
well. She was too weary, when she finally drove the tired cattle into the kraal, to seek her father
that night. She gulped down a few handfuls of hot porridge and curled up in her blanket within
the shelter of the hut. Immediately she dropped into a dreamless sleep to the sound of the
drumming rain on the thatching.
In the morning when she woke, she could tell it was late by.



Yet, if it were almost a miracle, in his heart =JoeCarraclough tried to believe in that miracle-that
somehow, wonderfully, inexplicably, his dog would be there some day; waiting by the school
gate. Each day as he came out of school, his eyes would turn to the spot where =Lassie had
always waited. And each day there was nothing there, and =JoeCarraclough would walk home
slowly, silently, stolidly as did the people of his country.
Always, when school ended, =Joe tried to prepare himself-told himself not to be disappointed,
because there could be no dog there. Thus, through the long weeks, =Joe began to teach himself
not to believe in the impossible. He had hoped against hope so long that hope began to die.
But if hope can die in a human, it does not in an animal. As long as the animal lives, the hope is
there and the faith is there. And so, coming across the schoolyard that day, =JoeCarraclough
would not believe his eyes. He shook his head and blinked, and rubbed his fists in his eyes, for he
thought what he was seeing was a dream. There, walking the last few yards to the school gate
was-his dog!
He stood, for the coming of the dog was terrible-her walk was a thing that tore at his heart. Her
head and her tail were down almost to the pavement. Each footstep forward seemed a separate
effort. It was a crawl rather than a walk. But the steps were made, one by one, and at last the
animal dropped in her place by the gate and lay still.
Then =Joe roused himself. Even if it were a dream, he must do something. In dreams one must
try. He raced across the yard and fell to his knees, and then, when his hands were touching and
feeling fur, he knew it was reality. His dog had come to meet him
But what a dog was this-no prize collie with fine tricolor coat glowing, with ears lifted gladly
over the proud, slim head with its perfect black mask. It was not a dog whose bright eyes were
alert, and who jumped up to bark a glad welcome. 



you since =1907," said the =RoyalMathematician. "It so happens that I have a list of them with
me."
He pulled a long scroll of parchment out of a pocket and looked at it. "Now let me see. I have
figured out for you the distance between the horns of a dilemma, night and day, and =A and =Z. I
have computed how far is Up, how long it takes to get to Away, and what becomes of Gone. I
have discovered the length of the sea serpent, the price of the priceless, and the square of the
hippopotamus. I knew where you are when you are at =Sixes and =Sevens, how much you have
to have to make an =Are, and how many birds you can catch with the salt in the ocean  if it
would interest you to know."
"There aren't that many birds," said the =King.
"I didn't say there were," said the =RoyalMathematician. "I said if there were."
"I don't want to hear about seven hundred million imaginary birds," said the =King. "I want you
to get the moon for the Princess =Lenore." "The moon is =300'000 miles away," said the =Royal
=Mathematician. "It is round and flat like a coin, only it is made of asbestos, and if is half the
size of this kingdom. Furthermore, it is pasted on the sky. Nobody can get the moon."
The =King flew into still another rage and sent the =RoyalMathematician away. Then he rang for
the =CourtJester. The= Jester came bounding into the throne room in his motley and his cap and
bells, and sat at the foot of the throne.
"What can I do for you, your Majesty?" asked the =CourtJester.
"Nobody can do anything for me," said the =King mournfully. "The Princess =Lenore wants the
moon, and she cannot be well till she gets it, but nobody can get it for her. Every time I ask
anybody for the moon, it gets larger and farther away. There is nothing you can do for me except
play on your lute. Something sad."


"How big do they say the moon is," asked the =CourtJester, "and how far away?"
"The =LordHighChamberlain says it is =35'000 miles away, and bigger than the Princess
=Lenore's room," said the =King. "The =RoyalWizard says it is =150'000 miles away, and twice
as big as this palace. The =RoyalMathematician says it is =300'000 miles away, and half the size
of this kingdom." The =CourtJester strummed on his lute for a little while. "They are all wise
men," he said, "and so they must all be right. If they are all right, then the moon must be just as
large and far away as each person thinks it is. The thing to do is find out how big the Princess
=Lenore thinks it is, and how far away."
"I never thought of that," said the King.
"I will go and ask her, your Majesty," said the =CourtJester. And he crept softly into the little
girl's room.
The Princess =Lenore was awake, and she was glad to see the =CourtJester, but her face was very
pale and her voice very weak. "Have you brought the moon to me?" she asked.
"Not yet," said the =CourtJester, "but I will get it for you right away. How big do you think it is?"
"It is just a little smaller than my thumbnail," she said, "for when I hold my thumbnail up at the
moon, it just covers it." "And how far away is it?" asked the =CourtJester.
"It is not as high as the big tree outside my window," said the
Princess, "for sometimes it gets caught in the top branches."
"It will be very easy to get the moon for you," said the =CourtJester. "I will climb the tree tonight
when it gets caught in the top
branches and bring it to you."
Then he thought of something else. "What is the moon made of, =Princess?" he asked.
"Oh," she said, "it's made of gold, of course, silly."
The =CourtJester left the Princess =Lenore's room and went to.

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