name my dove after him, for it takes messages for me. Tell me a long
one, please."

"Well, my dear, Mercury is also the name of the planet that will soon be
our evening star. And, Ethel, if I tell you this story now, you must
tell it to me sometime when we watch his beautiful namesake in the sky.
Will you try to remember it?"

"Oh, yes, indeed, I'll remember. I love the stories about the stars. It
makes them seem so real. I know Venus and Jupiter, and Mars with his red
eye, and now I am going to have another friend among them. Oh, I am glad
I asked about that quicksilver," and Ethel settled down on a footstool
at her mother's feet.

This is the story Mrs. Brown told Ethel:

"In the days when the earth was young, a little baby lay alone in its
cradle in a beautiful cave in a mountain side. This baby was Mercury.
His mother had left him because someone had called her away for a
moment, but for some reason she stayed an hour.

"As soon as she had gone, this wee baby turned over, lifted his head,
and, seeing the door of the cave ajar, put out his hand. Touching the
sides of the cradle, he sprang out like a boy ten years old. Slipping
through the doorway, Mercury ran quickly down to the river bank near his
home. A river tortoise was in his way. His tiny toes tripped over it and
he fell. Vexed to be stopped by such a slow, clumsy creature, Mercury
dashed it on a rock and killed it. Then he threw it into the river and
watched the fish feed on its flesh. It seemed but a minute before the
empty shell drifted to his feet. Mercury picked it up and felt sorry for