LABOR DAY (First Monday In September)

I. The Smithy A Hindu Fable

By P. V. Ramaswami Raju (Adapted)

Once words ran high in a smithy.

The furnace said: ``If I cease to burn, the smithy must close.''

The bellows said: ``If I cease to blow, no fire, no smithy.''

The hammer and anvil, also, each claimed the sole credit for keeping up the smithy.

The ploughshare that had been shaped by the furnace, the bellows, the hammer and the anvil, cried: ``It is not each of you alone, that keeps up the smithy, but ALL TOGETHER.''

II. The Nail

By The Brothers Grimm (Translated)[7]

[7] From the Riverside Fourth Reader.

A merchant had done good business at the fair; he had sold his wares, and filled his bag with gold and silver. Then he set out at once on his journey home, for he wished to be in his own house before night.

At noon he rested in a town. When he wanted to go on, the stable-boy brought his horse, saying:

``A nail is wanting, sir, in the shoe of his left hind foot.''

``Let it be wanting,'' answered the merchant; ``the shoe will stay on for the six miles I have still to go. I am in a hurry.''

In the afternoon he got down at an inn and had his horse fed. The stable-boy came into the room to him and said: ``Sir, a shoe is wanting from your horse's left hind foot. Shall I take him to the blacksmith?''

``Let it still be wanting,'' said the man; ``the horse can very well hold out for a couple of miles more. I am in a hurry.''

So the merchant rode forth, but before long the horse began to limp. He had not limped long before he began to stumble, and he had not stumbled long before he fell down and broke his leg. The merchant had to leave the horse where he fell, and unstrap the bag, take it on his back, and go home on foot.

``That unlucky nail,'' said he to himself, ``has made all this trouble.''

III. The Elves And The Shoemaker

By Horace E. Scudder

There was once a shoemaker who worked very hard and was honest. Still, he could not earn enough to live on. At last, all he had in the world was gone except just leather enough to make one pair of shoes. He cut these out at night, and meant to rise early the next morning to make them up.

His heart was light in spite of his troubles, for his conscience was clear. So he went quietly to bed, left all his cares to God, and fell asleep. In the morning he said his prayers, and sat down to work, when, to his great wonder, there stood the shoes, already made, upon the table.

The good man knew not what to say or think. He looked at the work. There was not one false stitch in the whole job. All was neat and true.

That same day a customer came in, and the shoes pleased him so well that he readily paid a price higher than usual for them. The shoemaker took the money and bought leather enough to make two pairs more. He cut out the work in the evening, and went to bed early. He wished to be up with the sun and get to work.

He was saved all trouble, for when he got up in the morning, the work was done. Pretty soon buyers came in, who paid him well for his goods. So he bought leather enough for four pairs more.

He cut out the work again overnight, and found it finished in the morning as before. So it went on for some time. What was got ready at night was always done by daybreak, and the good man soon was well-to-do.

One evening, at Christmas-time, he and his wife sat over the fire, chatting, and he said: ``I should like to sit up and watch to-night, that we may see who it is that comes and does my work for me.'' So they left the light burning, and hid themselves behind a curtain to see what would happen.

As soon as it was midnight, there came two little Elves. They sat upon the shoemaker's bench, took up all the work that was cut out, and began to ply their little fingers. They stitched and rapped and tapped at such a rate that the shoemaker was amazed, and could not take his eyes off them for a moment.

On they went till the job was done, and the shoes stood, ready for use, upon the table. This was long before daybreak. Then they ran away as quick as lightning.

The next day the wife said to the shoemaker: ``These little Elves have made us rich, and we ought to be thankful to them, and do them some good in return. I am vexed to see them run about as they do. They have nothing upon their backs to keep off the cold. I'll tell you what we must do. I will make each of them a shirt, and a coat and waistcoat, and a pair of pantaloons into the bargain. Do you make each of them a little pair of shoes.''

The good shoemaker liked the thought very well. One evening he and his wife had the clothes ready, and laid them on the table instead of the work they used to cut out. Then they went and hid behind the curtain to watch what the little Elves would do.

At midnight the Elves came in and were going to sit down at their work as usual. But when they saw the clothes lying there for them, they laughed and were in high glee. They dressed themselves in the twinkling of an eye, and danced and capered and sprang about as merry as could be, till at last they danced out of the door, and over the green.

The shoemaker saw them no more, but everything went well with him as long as he lived.

IV. The Hillman And The Housewife

By Jullana Horatia Ewing (Adapted)

It is well known that the Fairy People cannot abide meanness. They like to be liberally dealt with when they beg or borrow of the human race; and, on the other hand, to those who come to them in need, they are invariably generous.

Now there once lived a certain housewife who had a sharp eye to her own interests, and gave alms of what she had no use for, hoping to get some reward in return. One day a Hillman knocked at her door.

``Can you lend us a saucepan, good mother?'' said he. ``There's a wedding in the hill, and all the pots are in use.''

``Is he to have one?'' asked the servant lass who had opened the door.

``Aye, to be sure,'' answered the housewife; ``one must be neighborly.''

But when the maid was taking a saucepan from the shelf, the housewife pinched her arm and whispered sharply: ``Not that, you good-for- nothing! Get the old one out of the cupboard. It leaks, and the Hillmen are so neat, and such nimble workers, that they are sure to mend it before they send it home. So one obliges the Fairy People, and saves sixpence in tinkering!''

Thus bidden the maid fetched the saucepan, which had been laid by until the tinker's next visit, and gave it to the Hillman, who thanked her and went away.

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