'"Good morning, little Hans,"
said the Miller.
'"Good morning," said Hans,
leaning on his spade, and smiling from ear to ear.
'"And how have you been all the
winter?" said the Miller. "Well, really," cried Hans, "it
is very good of you to ask, very good indeed. I am afraid I had rather a hard
time of it, but now the spring has come, and I am quite happy, and all my
flowers are doing well."
'"We often talked of you during the
winter, Hans," said the Miller, "and wondered how you were getting
on."
'"That was kind of you," said
Hans; "I was half afraid you had forgotten me."
'"Hans, I am surprised at you,"
said the Miller; "friendship never forgets. That is the wonderful thing
about it, but I am afraid you don't understand the poetry of life. How lovely
your primroses are looking, by-the-by!"
'"They are certainly very lovely,"
said Hans, "and it is a most lucky thing for me that I have so many. I am
going to bring them into the market and sell them to the Burgomaster's
daughter, and buy back my wheelbarrow with the money."
'"Buy back your wheelbarrow? You
don't mean to say you have sold it? What a very stupid thing to do!"
'"Well, the fact is," said
Hans, "that I was obliged to. You see the winter was a very bad time for
me, and I really had no money at all to buy bread with. So I first sold the
silver buttons off my Sunday coat, and then I sold my silver chain, and then I
sold my big pipe, and at last I sold my wheelbarrow. But I am going to buy them
all back again now."
'"Hans," said the Miller,
"I will give you my wheelbarrow. It is not in very good repair; indeed,
one side is gone, and there is something wrong with the wheel-spokes; but in
spite of that I will give it to you. I know it is very generous of me, and a
great many people would think me extremely foolish for parting with it, but I
am not like the rest of the world. I think that generosity is the essence of
friendship, and, besides, I have got a new wheelbarrow for myself. Yes, you may
set your mind at ease, I will give you my wheelbarrow."
No comments:
Post a Comment