them. But I had not ascended far, when the sunbeam shook me off,
and in spite of all I could say or do, let me fall into a dark
cloud. And soon a flash of fire darted through the cloud, and now I
thought I must surely die; but the whole cloud laid itself down
softly upon the top of a mountain, and so I escaped with my fright,
and a black eye. Now I thought I should remain hidden, when all on
a sudden I slipped over a round pebble, fell from one stone to
another, down into the depths of the mountain, till at last it was
pitch dark, and I could neither see nor hear anything. Then I
found, indeed, that 'pride goeth before a fall,' resigned myself to
my fate, and, as I had already laid aside all my unhappy pride in
the cloud, my portion was now the salt of humility; and after
undergoing many purifications from the hidden virtues of metals and
minerals, I was at length permitted to come up once more into the
free cheerful air; and now will I run back to my sisters, and there
wait patiently till I am called to something better."

But hardly had she done when the root of a forget-me-not caught the
drop of water by her hair and sucked her in, that she might become a
floweret, and twinkle brightly as a blue star on the green firmament
of earth.



CHAPTER III.



The Child did not very well know what to think of all this: he went
thoughtfully home and laid himself on his little bed; and all night