CONTENTS

PAGE
SPRING STORIES AND LEGENDS
April 2
Robert Browning
The Spring-Maiden and the Frost Giants (Norse Legend) 3
Eleanor L. Skinner
How the Bluebird Was Chosen Herald 14
Jay T. Stocking
The Springtime 32
Eugene Field
The Selfish Giant 41
Oscar Wilde
The Promised Plant 50
Andrea Hofer Proudfoot
Brier Rose 54
Kate Douglas Wiggin and Nora Archibald Smith
Picciola (Adapted) 61
St. Saintine
St. Francis, the Little Bedesman of Christ 67
William Canton
Proserpina and King Pluto (Greek Myth) 71
Eleanor L. Skinner
The Wonder—A Parable (From “Parables”) 82
Friedrich Adolph Krummacher
NATURE STORIES AND LEGENDS
Green Things Growing (Poem) 86
Dinah Mulock Craik
The Story of a Little Grain of Wheat 87
May Byron
The Little Acorn 100
Lucy Wheelock
The Story of Two Little Seeds 104
George MacDonald
How the Flowers Came (Selected) 107
Jay T. Stocking
The Legend of Trailing Arbutus (Indian Legend) 115
Eleanor L. Skinner
The Fairy Flower (Adapted from “Norwood”) 120
Henry Ward Beecher
The Snowdrop 127
Hans Christian Andersen
What the Dandelion Told 131
Clara Maetzel
Verse 137
James Russell Lowell
A Great Family 138
Agnes McClelland Daulton
The Birth of the Violet (Legend) 142
Ada M. Skinner
A Lyric of Joy (Poem) 148
Bliss Carman
AMONG THE TREE-TOPS
Robin’s Carol (From “Angler’s Reveille”) 150
Henry van Dyke
How the Birds Came (Indian Legend) 151
Ada M. Skinner
How the Birds Learned to Build Nests 154
James Baldwin
Out of the Nest 158
Maud Lindsay
The Story of Blue-Wings 164
Mary Stewart
An Eastern Legend (Poem) 170
Grace Duffield Goodwin
The House Wren 171
Neltje Blanchan
The Little Brown Wren 173
Clinton Scollard
The Children of Wind and The Clan of Peace (A Christ-Legend) (Adapted) 176
Fiona MacLeod
IN MEADOW AND POND
A Spring Lilt (Poem) 182
Unknown
How Butterflies Came 183
Hans Christian Andersen
White Butterflies (Poem) 184
Algernon Charles Swinburne
The Butterfly 185
Mrs. Alfred Gatty
The Wind, a Helper 196
Mary Stewart
The Springing Tree: Willows 203
Mrs. Dyson
Pussy Willow 210
Kate Louise Brown
The Dragon Fly 212
Mrs. Alfred Gatty
The Cicada’s Story (Selected) 220
Agnes McClelland Daulton
Edith and the Bees 226
Helen Keller
The Little Tadpoles (From Stories in “Prose and Verse”) 230
Katharine Pyle
Mister Hop-Toad (Poem) 237
James Whitcomb Riley
Buz and Hum 238
Maurice Noël
The Story Without an End. 1. In the Green Meadow. 2. The Story of a Drop of Water 246
Translated by Sarah Austin from the German of A. Carove
Legend of the Forget-Me-Not 253
Ada M. Skinner
Four-Leaf Clover (Poem) 256
Ella Higginson
Jolly Little Tars 257
Agnes McClelland Daulton
Mr. Maple and Mr. Pine 275
Warren Judson Brier
A GARDEN OF EASTER STORIES
Old English Verse 286
The Easter Rabbit (German Legend) 287
Eleanor L. Skinner
The Boy Who Discovered the Spring 295
Raymond MacDonald Alden
Sheep and Lambs (Poem) 308
Katharine Tynan
Robin Redbreast—A Christ-Legend (Adapted) (From Christ-Legends) 309
Selma Lagerlöf
The Maple Seed 318
From The Atlantic Monthly
Why the Ivy Is Always Green 322
Madge Bingham
Jonquils (Poem) 329
Margaret Deland
When Thou Comest Into Thy Kingdom 330
Mary Stewart
The Legend of the Easter Lily 345
Ada M. Skinner
Song 346
Henry Neville Maughan
In the Garden: An Easter Prelude 347
W. M. L. Jay
“Spirit” and “Life” 352
Margaret Emma Ditto
A Child’s Easter (Poem) 359
Annie Trumbull Slosson
The Spirit of Easter 363
Helen Keller
There Are No Dead 365
Maurice Maeterlinck, adapted from “The Bluebird” by Madame Maeterlinck.
Little Boy Blue (Poem) 370
Alfred Noyes

THE EMERALD STORY BOOK