nursery.

Then his mamma kissed him right on the tip of his little nose, and she
said:

"But you must go to bed sometime."

"Please, mamma dear," he said, pushing his curly head almost under her
arm, "just one little story."

[Illustration: A SCENE IN THE STORY THAT WOULDN'T BE TOLD.]

"Just one! You can choose it, but mind, a little one!"

"You know what one I want. Of course about the giant Tancankeroareous,
and how he stole the slipper of the princess for a snuff-box, and how
the Prince Limberlocks climbed up a cherry-tree into the giant's room.
That is the story _I_ like!"

"And it must be the 'amen story' to-night. Well: Once upon a time the
Princess Thistleblossom stood on one foot, while--"

"No, no," interrupted The Story, "you need not tell _me_! Tell some
other story. I am tired of being said over and over. Every night, as
soon as your bed-time comes, and you are so sleepy that you don't want
to go to bed, you ask for me, and I have to be told. I am sick of it,
and I want to rest."

"But I want you," said the boy. "I like you best of all my stories.
I like that part where the giant comes in and calls out 'PORTER!' in