The Story of My Life
remembered how he had awakened his mother with kisses, and thought he
would try the same plan with the roses; so he drew up his red lips until
THEY looked like a rosebud, too, and bending down a branch with a lovely
pink bud upon it, he kissed it softly two or three times.
Here the similarity in the language of the story to that in the letter
ceases.
HELEN'S LETTER TO MR. ANAGNOS
(Written February 2 and 3, 1890.)
[This letter was enclosed in another written in French, dated Le 1
fevrier 1890.]
My Dear Mr. Anagnos: You will laugh when you open your little friend's
letter and see all the queer mistakes she has made in French, but I
think you will be pleased to know that I can write even a short letter
in French. It makes me very happy to please you and my dear teacher. I
wish I could see your little niece Amelia. I am sure we should love each
other. I hope you will bring some of Virginia Evanghelides' poems home
with you, and translate them for me. Teacher and I have just returned
from our walk. It is a beautiful day. We met a sweet little child. She
was playing on the pier with a wee brother. She gave me a kiss and then
ran away, because she was a shy little girl. I wonder if you would like
to have me tell you a pretty dream which I had a long time ago when I
was a very little child? Teacher says it was a day-dream, and she thinks
you would be delighted to hear it. One pleasant morning in the beautiful
springtime, I thought I was sitting on the soft grass under my dear
mother's window, looking very earnestly at the rose-bushes which were
growing all around me. It was quite early, the sun had not been up very
long; the birds were just beginning to sing joyously. The flowers were
still asleep. They would not awake until the sun had smiled lovingly
upon them. I was a very happy little child with rosy cheeks, and large
blue eyes, and the most beautiful golden ringlets you can imagine. The
fresh morning air blew gently in my face, as if to welcome me, and be my
merry playmate, and the sun looked at me with a warm and tender smile.
I clapped my chubby hands for joy when I saw that the rose-bushes were
covered with lovely buds. Some were red, some white, and others were
delicate pink, and they were peeping out from between the green leaves
like beautiful little fairies. I had never seen anything so lovely
before, for I was very young and I could not remember how pretty the
roses had been the summer before. My little heart was filled with a
sweet joy, and I danced around the rosebushes to show my delight.
After a while I went very near to a beautiful white rose-bush which was
completely covered with buds and sparkling with dewdrops; I bent down
one of the branches with a lovely pure white bud upon it, and kissed it
softly many times; just then I felt two loving arms steal gently around
me, and loving lips kissing my eyelids, my cheeks, and my mouth, until
I began to think it was raining kisses; and at last I opened my eyes
to see what it all meant, and found it was my precious mother, who was
bending over me, trying to kiss me awake. Do you like my day-dream? If
you do, perhaps I will dream again for you some time.
Teacher and all of your friends send you their love. I shall be so glad
when you come home, for I greatly miss you. Please give my love to your
good Greek friends, and tell them that I shall come to Athens some day.
Lovingly your little friend and playmate, HELEN A. KELLER.
"The Frost Fairies" and "The Frost Kings" are given in full, as the
differences are as important as the resemblances:
The Frost Fairies [From "Birdie and his Fairy Friends"] by Margaret T.
Canby
King Frost, or Jack Frost as he is sometimes called, lives in a cold
country far to the North; but every year he takes a journey over the
world in a car of golden clouds drawn by a strong and rapid steed called
"North Wind." Wherever he goes he does many wonderful things; he builds
bridges over every stream, clear as glass in appearance but often strong
as iron; he puts the flowers and plants to sleep by one touch of his
hand, and they all bow down and sink into the warm earth, until spring
returns; then, lest we should grieve for the flowers, he places at our
windows lovely wreaths and sprays of his white northern flowers,
or delicate little forests of fairy pine-trees, pure white and very
beautiful. But his most wonderful work is the painting of the trees,
which look, after his task is done, as if they were covered with the
brightest layers of gold and rubies; and are beautiful enough to comfort
us for the flight of summer.
I will tell you how King Frost first thought of this kind work, for it
is a strange story. You must know that this King, like all other kings,
has great treasures of gold and precious stones in his palace; but,
being a good-hearted old fellow, he does not keep his riches locked up
all the time, but tries to do good and make others happy with them. He
has two neighbours, who live still farther north; one is King Winter, a
cross and churlish old monarch, who is hard and cruel, and delights in
making the poor suffer and weep; but the other neighbour is Santa Claus,
a fine, good-natured, jolly old soul, who loves to do good, and who
brings presents to the poor, and to nice little children at Christmas.
Well, one day King Frost was trying to think of some good that he could
do with his treasure; and suddenly he concluded to send some of it to
his kind neighbour, Santa Claus, to buy presents of food and clothing
for the poor, that they might not suffer so much when King Winter went
near their homes. So he called together his merry little fairies, and
showing them a number of jars and vases filled with gold and precious
stones, told them to carry those carefully to the palace of Santa Claus,
and give them to him with the compliments of King Frost. "He will know
how to make good use of the treasure," added Jack Frost; then he told
the fairies not to loiter by the way, but to do his bidding quickly.
The fairies promised obedience and soon started on their journey,
dragging the great glass jars and vases along, as well as they could,
and now and then grumbling a little at having such hard work to do, for
they were idle fairies, and liked play better than work. At last they
reached a great forest, and, being quite tired, they decided to rest
awhile and look for nuts before going any further. But lest the treasure
should be stolen from them, they hid the jars among the thick leaves
of the forest trees, placing some high up near the top, and others in
different parts of the various trees, until they thought no one could
find them.
Then they began to wander about and hunt for nuts, and climb the trees
to shake them down, and worked much harder for their own pleasure than
they had done for their master's bidding, for it is a strange truth that
fairies and children never complain of the toil and trouble they take in
search of amusement, although they often grumble when asked to work for
the good of others.
The frost fairies were so busy and so merry over their nutting frolic
that they soon forgot their errand and their king's command to go
quickly; but, as they played and loitered in the forest until noon, they
found the reason why they were told to hasten; for although they had, as
they thought, hidden the treasure so carefully, they had not secured it
from the power of Mr. Sun, who was an enemy of Jack Frost, and delighted
to undo his work and weaken him whenever he could.
His bright eyes found out the jars of treasure among the trees, and as
the idle fairies left them there until noon, at which time Mr. Sun is
the strongest, the delicate glass began to melt and break, and before
long every jar and vase was cracked or broken, and the precious
treasures they contained were melting, too, and dripping slowly in
streams of gold and crimson over the trees and bushes of the forest.
Still, for awhile, the frost fairies did not notice this strange
occurrence, for they were down on the grass, so far below the tree-tops
that the wonderful shower of treasure was a long time in reaching
them; but at last one of them said, "Hark! I believe it is raining; I
certainly hear the falling drops." The others laughed, and told him that
it seldom rained when the sun was shining; but as they listened they
plainly heard the tinkling of many drops falling through the forest, and
sliding from leaf to leaf until they reached the bramble-bushes beside
them, when, to their great dismay, they found that the RAIN-DROPS were
MELTED RUBIES, which hardened on the leaves and turned them to bright
crimson in a moment. Then looking more closely at the trees around,
they saw that the treasure was all melting away, and that much of it was
already spread over the leaves of the oak trees and maples, which
were shining with their gorgeous dress of gold and bronze, crimson
and emerald. It was very beautiful; but the idle fairies were too much
frightened at the mischief their disobedience had caused, to admire the
beauty of the forest, and at once tried to hide themselves among the
bushes, lest King Frost should come and punish them.
Their fears were well founded, for their long absence had alarmed the
king, and he had started out to look for his tardy servants, and just as
they were all hidden, he came along slowly, looking on all sides for the
fairies. Of course, he soon noticed the brightness of the leaves, and
discovered the cause, too, when he caught sight of the broken jars and
vases from which the melted treasure was still dropping. And when he
came to the nut trees, and saw the shells left by the idle fairies and
all the traces of their frolic, he knew exactly how they had acted,
and that they had disobeyed him by playing and loitering on their way
through the woods.
King Frost frowned and looked very angry at first, and his fairies
trembled for fear and cowered still lower in their hiding-places; but
just then two little children came dancing through the wood, and though
they did not see King Frost or the fairies, they saw the beautiful
colour of the leaves, and laughed with delight, and began picking great
bunches to take to their mother. "The leaves are as pretty as flowers,"
said they; and they called the golden leaves "buttercups," and the red
ones "roses," and were very happy as they went singing through the wood.
Their pleasure charmed away King Frost's anger, and he, too, began to
admire the painted trees, and at last he said to himself, "My treasures
are not wasted if they make little children happy. I will not be
offended at my idle, thoughtless fairies, for they have taught me a new
way of doing good." When the frost fairies heard these words they crept,
one by one, from their corners, and, kneeling down before their master,
confessed their fault, and asked his pardon. He frowned upon them for
awhile, and scolded them, too, but he soon relented, and said he would
forgive them this time, and would only punish them by making them carry
more treasure to the forest, and hide it in the trees, until all the
leaves, with Mr. Sun's help, were covered with gold and ruby coats.
Then the fairies thanked him for his forgiveness, and promised to work
very hard to please him; and the good-natured king took them all up in
his arms, and carried them safely home to his palace. From that time, I
suppose, it has been part of Jack Frost's work to paint the trees with
the glowing colours we see in the autumn; and if they are NOT covered
with gold and precious stones, I do not know how he makes them so
bright; DO YOU?
The Frost King by Helen A. Keller
King Frost lives in a beautiful palace far to the North, in the land of
perpetual snow. The palace, which is magnificent beyond description, was