Fifty Famous Stories Retold
"Why do you carry a lantern when the sun is shining?" some one said.
"I am looking for an honest man," answered Diogenes.
When Alexander the Great went to Cor-inth, all the fore-most men in
the city came out to see him and to praise him. But Diogenes did not
come; and he was the only man for whose o-pin-ions Alexander cared.
And so, since the wise man would not come to see the king, the king
went to see the wise man. He found Diogenes in an out-of-the-way
place, lying on the ground by his tub. He was en-joy-ing the heat and
the light of the sun.
When he saw the king and a great many people coming, he sat up and
looked at Alexander. Alexander greeted him and said,--
"Diogenes, I have heard a great deal about your wisdom. Is there
anything that I can do for you?"
"Yes," said Diogenes. "You can stand a little on one side, so as not
to keep the sunshine from me."
This answer was so dif-fer-ent from what he expected, that the king
was much sur-prised. But it did not make him angry; it only made him
admire the strange man all the more. When he turned to ride back, he
said to his officers,--
"Say what you will; if I were not Alexander, I would like to be
Diogenes."
THE BRAVE THREE HUNDRED.
All Greece was in danger. A mighty army, led by the great King of
Persia, had come from the east. It was marching along the seashore,
and in a few days would be in Greece. The great king had sent
mes-sen-gers into every city and state, bidding them give him water
and earth in token that the land and the sea were his. But they
said,--
"No: we will be free."
And so there was a great stir through-out all the land. The men armed
themselves, and made haste to go out and drive back their foe; and the
women staid at home, weeping and waiting, and trembling with fear.
There was only one way by which the Per-sian army could go into Greece
on that side, and that was by a narrow pass between the mountains and
the sea. This pass was guarded by Le-on'i-das, the King of the
Spartans, with three hundred Spartan soldiers.
Soon the Persian soldiers were seen coming. There were so many of them
that no man could count them. How could a handful of men hope to stand
against so great a host?
And yet Le-on-i-das and his Spartans held their ground. They had made
up their minds to die at their post. Some one brought them word that
there were so many Persians that their arrows dark-ened the sun.
"So much the better," said the Spartans; "we shall fight in the
shade."
Bravely they stood in the narrow pass. Bravely they faced their foes.
To Spartans there was no such thing as fear. The Persians came
forward, only to meet death at the points of their spears.
But one by one the Spartans fell. At last their spears were broken;
yet still they stood side by side, fighting to the last. Some fought
with swords, some with daggers, and some with only their fists and
teeth.
All day long the army of the Persians was kept at bay. But when the
sun went down, there was not one Spartan left alive. Where they had
stood there was only a heap of the slain, all bristled over with
spears and arrows.
Twenty thousand Persian soldiers had fallen before that handful of
men. And Greece was saved.
Thousands of years have passed since then; but men still like to tell
the story of Leonidas and the brave three hundred who died for their
country's sake.
SOCRATES AND HIS HOUSE.
There once lived in Greece a very wise man whose name was Soc'ra-tes.
Young men from all parts of the land went to him to learn wisdom from
him; and he said so many pleasant things, and said them in so
delightful a way, that no one ever grew tired of listening to him.
One summer he built himself a house, but it was so small that his
neighbors wondered how he could be content with it.
"What is the reason," said they, "that you, who are so great a man,
should build such a little box as this for your dwelling house?"
"Indeed, there may be little reason," said he; "but, small as the
place is, I shall think myself happy if I can fill even it with true
friends."
THE KING AND HIS HAWK.
Gen'ghis Khan was a great king and war-rior.
He led his army into China and Persia, and he con-quered many lands.
In every country, men told about his daring deeds; and they said that
since Alexander the Great there had been no king like him.
One morning when he was home from the wars, he rode out into the woods
to have a day's sport. Many of his friends were with him. They rode
out gayly, carrying their bows and arrows. Behind them came the
servants with the hounds.
It was a merry hunting party. The woods rang with their shouts and
laughter. They expected to carry much game home in the evening.
On the king's wrist sat his favorite hawk; for in those days hawks
were trained to hunt. At a word from their masters they would fly high
up into the air, and look around for prey. If they chanced to see a
deer or a rabbit, they would swoop down upon it swift as any arrow.
All day long Gen-ghis Khan and his huntsmen rode through the woods.
But they did not find as much game as they expected.
Toward evening they started for home. The king had often ridden
through the woods, and he knew all the paths. So while the rest of the
party took the nearest way, he went by a longer road through a valley
between two mountains.
The day had been warm, and the king was very thirsty. His pet hawk had
left his wrist and flown away. It would be sure to find its way home.
The king rode slowly along. He had once seen a spring of clear water
near this path-way. If he could only find it now! But the hot days of
summer had dried up all the moun-tain brooks.
At last, to his joy, he saw some water tric-kling down over the edge
of a rock. He knew that there was a spring farther up. In the wet
season, a swift stream of water always poured down here; but now it
came only one drop at a time.
The king leaped from his horse. He took a little silver cup from his
hunting bag. He held it so as to catch the slowly falling drops.
It took a long time to fill the cup; and the king was so thirsty that
he could hardly wait. At last it was nearly full. He put the cup to
his lips, and was about to drink.
All at once there was a whir-ring sound in the air, and the cup was
knocked from his hands. The water was all spilled upon the ground.
The king looked up to see who had done this thing. It was his pet
hawk.
The hawk flew back and forth a few times, and then alighted among the
rocks by the spring.
The king picked up the cup, and again held it to catch the tric-kling
drops.
This time he did not wait so long. When the cup was half full, he
lifted it toward his mouth. But before it had touched his lips, the
hawk swooped down again, and knocked it from his hands.
And now the king began to grow angry. He tried again; and for the
third time the hawk kept him from drinking.
The king was now very angry indeed.
"How do you dare to act so?" he cried. "If I had you in my hands, I
would wring your neck!"
Then he filled the cup again. But before he tried to drink, he drew
his sword.
"Now, Sir Hawk," he said, "this is the last time."
He had hardly spoken, before the hawk swooped down and knocked the cup
from his hand. But the king was looking for this. With a quick sweep
of the sword he struck the bird as it passed.
The next moment the poor hawk lay bleeding and dying at its master's
feet.
"That is what you get for your pains," said Genghis Khan.
But when he looked for his cup, he found that it had fallen between
two rocks, where he could not reach it.
"At any rate, I will have a drink from that spring," he said to
himself.
With that he began to climb the steep bank to the place from which the
water trickled. It was hard work, and the higher he climbed, the
thirst-i-er he became.
At last he reached the place. There indeed was a pool of water; but
what was that lying in the pool, and almost filling it? It was a huge,
dead snake of the most poi-son-ous kind.
The king stopped. He forgot his thirst. He thought only of the poor
dead bird lying on the ground below him.
"The hawk saved my life!" he cried; "and how did I repay him? He was
my best friend, and I have killed him."
He clam-bered down the bank. He took the bird up gently, and laid it
in his hunting bag. Then he mounted his horse and rode swiftly home.
He said to himself,--
"I have learned a sad lesson to-day; and that is, never to do
any-thing in anger."
DOCTOR GOLDSMITH.
There was once a kind man whose name was Oliver Gold-smith. He wrote
many de-light-ful books, some of which you will read when you are
older.
He had a gentle heart. He was always ready to help others and to share
with them anything that he had. He gave away so much to the poor that
he was always poor himself.
He was some-times called Doctor Goldsmith; for he had studied to be a
phy-si-cian.
One day a poor woman asked Doctor Goldsmith to go and see her husband,
who was sick and could not eat.
Goldsmith did so. He found that the family was in great need. The man
had not had work for a long time. He was not sick, but in distress;
and, as for eating, there was no food in the house.
"Call at my room this evening," said Goldsmith to the woman, "and I
will give you some med-i-cine for your husband."
In the evening the woman called. Goldsmith gave her a little paper box
that was very heavy.
"Here is the med-i-cine," he said. "Use it faith-ful-ly, and I think
it will do your husband a great deal of good. But don't open the box
until you reach home."
"What are the di-rec-tions for taking it?" asked the woman.
"You will find them inside of the box," he answered.
When the woman reached her home, she sat down by her husband's side,
and they opened the box; What do you think they found in it?
It was full of pieces of money. And on the top were the
di-rec-tions:--
"TO BE TAKEN AS OFTEN AS NE-CES-SI-TY REQUIRES."
Goldsmith had given them all the ready money that he had.
THE KINGDOMS.
There was once a king of Prussia whose name was Frederick William.
On a fine morning in June he went out alone to walk in the green
woods. He was tired of the noise of the city, and he was glad to get
away from it.
So, as he walked among the trees, he often stopped to listen to the
singing birds, or to look at the wild flowers that grew on every side.
Now and then he stooped to pluck a violet, or a primrose, or a yellow
but-ter-cup. Soon his hands were full of pretty blossoms.
After a while he came to a little meadow in the midst of the wood.
Some children were playing there. They were running here and there,
and gathering the cow-slips that were blooming among the grass.
It made the king glad to see the happy children, and hear their merry
voices. He stood still for some time, and watched them as they played.
Then he called them around him, and all sat down to-geth-er in the
pleasant shade. The children did not know who the strange gentleman
was; but they liked his kind face and gentle manners.
"Now, my little folks," said the king, "I want to ask you some
ques-tions, and the child who gives the best answer shall have a
prize."
Then he held up an orange so that all the children could see.
"You know that we all live in the king-dom of Prussia," he said; "but
tell me, to what king-dom does this orange belong?"
The children were puz-zled. They looked at one another, and sat very
still for a little while. Then a brave, bright boy spoke up and
said,--
"It belongs to the veg-e-ta-ble kingdom, sir."
"Why so, my lad?" asked the king.